I Was Your Girl
by Beckyhelene
Summary: The year is 2019. A young girl's friends and family are all dead. She now has to go back in time and protect her family to ensure that there will be a future.
1. Granolith

Title: I Was Your Girl  
  
Author: Becky  
  
Email: MajandraDfanaol.com  
  
Spoilers: Takes place a little bit after "Tale of Two Parties"  
  
Category: M/M, M/L, I/J, Other/Other  
  
Summary: The year is 2019, a young girl's entire world has been destroyed, and she has no idea what to do now, except go back in time.  
  
Rating: R  
  
Roswell, NM. 2018  
  
The air was filled with explosions and screams. Sierra ran quickly through the dessert. Her friends, dead. Her family, dead. She was alone. And she had to protect herself and her home, whatever was left of it. She held her weapon firmly in her small hands. Hands like her mother's. Mother. She was dead now. She was gone.   
  
After hours of running, and a few impromptu fights with a few skins, Sierra finally came to her destination. She climbed the rocks that lead to the Granolith. They told her it could be used. Told her it could help. She finally reached the top. Her legs, burning from exhaustion, gave out, and she collapsed onto her knees. She took a few deep breaths. She finally looked up and saw it. Saw the majestic colors in the orb. Saw everything. She slowly stood up. She held her weapon loosely at her side. She walked to the side, where the activation crystals were held. She inserted them into the appropriate places. She watched as the Granolith began to charge up.  
  
"That doesn't belong to you." Came a familiar masculine voice. She slowly turned around and saw him standing there.   
  
"Travis." She breathed out softly. He looked at her coldly.   
  
"You stole that from my family." He said lowly.   
  
"They stole it from my family first. We were just getting back what was ours." She said. Her chin quivered slightly. "And to pay us back, you decided to kill the ones I love."  
  
"I just wanted to get under your skin." Travis smirked. "Thought it wouldn't be that much different then getting under your clothes. Lord knows I've done that a good few times." Sierra looked away and wiped a tear that slid down her face.  
  
"Yeah. Don't remind me. I hate reliving bad memories." She looked at him. Travis laughed as he walked closer to her. He grabbed the arm that held her gun, holding it at her side.  
  
"Bad? Well, you didn't seem to think it was bad when you were screaming out my name and digging your nails in my back." Sierra slapped him across the face with her other hand.  
  
"Bastard." She hissed through her tears. Travis laughed.  
  
"You know it." Sierra kneed him in the groin. "OW! You bitch!" He let her go. She quickly aimed her shotgun at his head.  
  
"You know it." She said, mocking him. Travis looked at the gun.  
  
"You're not gonna shoot me." He said.  
  
"Aren't I? You'd be surprise on what a person is capable of doing after she finds her parents dead in their bed." Travis laughed.  
  
"Oh that was the best one. It was just so easy. You were asleep; I could've killed you too."   
  
"Then why didn't you?" Sierra said through clenched teeth.  
  
"Where would be the fun in that?" He asked. "Smother you with a pillow....too quick, to easy...Burn your inside, yet again, to easy. It's so much more fun to just torture you slowly first. Then I'll kill you."   
  
"Not unless I kill you first."  
  
"Then do it." Travis said tauntingly.   
  
"Don't tempt me." She said lowly.   
  
"You're bluffing."   
  
"You wanna bet?" Sierra held the weapon. "You don't know me anymore, Trav. You lost that privilege when you decided to betray me."  
  
"Don't you mean when you betrayed me?" Travis said. Sierra narrowed her eyes.  
  
"What? Betray you? What the hell are you talking ab-" She was cut off by the ground shaking. She braced herself against the wall of the cave.  
  
"The granolith!" Travis exclaimed. He turned to Sierra. "And just where are you planning on going?" He asked.   
  
"Anywhere but here!" She yelled. And with lightening quick movement, she kicked him in the chest and ran to the granolith. Travis grabbed her ankle. She fell.   
  
"You're not going anywhere!" He pulled her closer to him, dragging her across the rocks. She screamed out.   
  
"Get your hands off of me!" She yelled. Travis laughed. He twisted her ankle. She screamed. She aimed her gun at him and shot him in the arm.   
  
"AW!" He fell back.   
  
"Told you I'd shoot your ass!" She pulled herself up and limped to the granolith. She looked back at Travis. He had already healed himself.   
  
"Don't you even think about getting in that thing." Travis threatened.  
  
"And I should listen to you because...?" He looked at her. "Kiss my ass Travis, I'm out of here." And with that, she touched the side of the granolith.  
  
ROSWELL NM, 2002  
  
The ground trembled as a white light appeared in the cave that used to hold the granolith. Suddenly, a form fell out of the light. It was Sierra. She fell on her side. She pulled herself up to a sitting position. The bright sun hurt her eyes; she squinted, and then was greeted by a pain by her right eyebrow. She touched her eyebrow and drew back her fingers to see blood. She sighed. She stood up; only too remember the nice going away present Travis gave her. The ground shook again. Sierra braced herself against a rock to keep from falling. She saw a bright light appear. She quickly limped to a hiding place behind a boulder. She crouched down low and peered over the edge of the boulder and gasped. There stood Travis. He dusted himself off and looked around.  
  
"Sierra?" He called out. "Sierra, come out, come out where ever you are." He smirked. Sierra quickly crouched lower behind the boulder. She could hear Travis' evil laughter. "I guess your not here. Oh well, I'll find you soon enough." And with that, he began to walk out of the cave. Sierra looked over, making sure he was gone. She quickly got to her feet and limped out of the cave. Set to find those who she thought could help.  
  
Maria, Liz and Michael walked about the empty Crashdown. It was five minutes after closing and they were cleaning up the place up before they leave. Maria was heading out of the staff bathroom. As she went to push the swinging door to go back to the front of the Crashdown, it suddenly swung back and hit it smack in the forehead.   
  
When Maria opened her eyes, she saw the worried faces of Liz and Michael looking down at her.   
  
"Maria? Are you ok?" Liz asked.   
  
"Yeah. What happened?" She sat up; surprised to see she was lying on Liz's bed.   
  
"The door hit you in the face, you fell down, the nice hard floor broke your fall, and you hit your head again, and were knocked unconscious." Michael said simply. Liz shot him a look.  
  
"Michael, can you please finish up downstairs?" She said, in a tone that sounded more like an order then a question. Michael sighed and walked back to the restaurant.  
  
Sierra walked along Roswell streets dazedly. This was her home, yet it wasn't. The streets looked safe. There weren't any army patrol jeeps driving up and down patrolling for skins, there wasn't fear, or death. Just cheesy alien shops and such. People stared at her wide eyed as they passed her by. She could just imagine how she looked. Dirt covered, cloths torn, and bleeding. She stopped short. She stood in front of the Crashdown Cafe. But it was different. It actually looked like a cafe. Towards the last days, it was a base. The windows were boarded and everything. But now, it looked bright, happy, and empty. She went to open the door. It was locked. She placed her hand over the lock and with a click the door opened. She walked in. She looked around. Everything looked so peaceful. She smiled.   
  
"Hey!" Came a voice. She gasped and spun around to see someone coming from the back room. "We're closed." He said. Sierra blinked. He was there. Alive. She had to keep herself from running to him and hugging him.   
  
Michael stared at the girl in the Crashdown. "How'd you get in here? The door was locked." The girl stared at him. She blinked. "Hello?" He said. "Can you speak English?" Michael looked at her once over. She looked like she had just come from a war or something. Her jeans had patches of dirt on them, and were ripped. Her t shirt had splotches of dirt and blood. Her face was cut, covered in a mixture of blood and dirt.  
  
"I......." She started to say. Michael looked at her.  
  
"You.....what?" He asked.   
  
Sierra felt her heartbeat racing as she stared at him. He just stood there. The blank look on his face almost made her cry. And she would've cried, she would've begged him to remember her, but, she was to busy passing out. 


	2. Mystery Girl

Note: I know that this goes totally goes against last few eps of the series. But, let's pretend that all stuff after a tale of 2 parties never happened, meaning no one has heard from Tess, or baby Zan, or whatever.  
  
Michael's eyes widened as he caught the falling girl.  
  
"Whoa.." He said.  
  
"What's going on?" Liz asked. Maria and she were emerging from the backroom.  
  
"I don't know. This girl just showed up here, and got all weird and catatonic and passed out." He said.  
  
"Maybe she's sick." Maria said.  
  
"Let's take her upstairs." Liz suggested. Michael lifted the girl into his arms and carried her up the stairs. He took her to Liz's room and laid her on Liz's bed.  
  
"God, if I wasn't suffering from some serious cabin fever and boredom since Jesse's out of town, I would so be protesting here." Isabel sighed. Max laughed at his sister.  
  
"And why's that?" He asked.  
  
"Because I have no intention of sitting and watching you and Liz make googly eyes at one another." Isabel sighed. Max laughed and continued driving to his girlfriend's house/workplace. Max and Isabel arrived at the Crashdown.   
  
"Guys?" Max called out. Liz came out of the backroom.   
  
"Guys, we're upstairs." Liz said.  
  
"Is something wrong?" Isabel asked.  
  
"I don't know." Liz said. "Some girl showed up here, and just fainted." Max and Isabel's faces were filled with puzzlement as they followed Liz upstairs.  
  
ROSWELL NM, 2018  
  
The fireworks exploded in the air. Sierra and her best friend, Alex Ramirez sat on the roof of his house watching the beautiful designs erupting in the sky. He looked at her.  
  
"It's amazing, huh?" He smiled. Sierra nodded.  
  
"Beautiful." She said. Alex slowly put his hand on hers.  
  
"So are you." He said. Sierra quickly drew her hand back. She looked at him.  
  
"Al," she said softly. "Don't." Alex looked down.  
  
"You can't just ask me to not love you." He whispered. Sierra sighed.  
  
"Alex, please, don't do this." She said. Alex sighed.  
  
"Right, I'm sorry. I forgot, you're head over heals over that Travis guy. Hmm, isn't he the enemy though?" He said, cocking his head to the side. Sierra looked at him.  
  
"He's not the enemy." She said.  
  
"Right, he just happens to be related to the enemy, living with the enemy, of course that doesn't mean he is the enemy." Alex said sarcastically.   
  
"Alex, stop it." Sierra said sternly.  
  
"What side is he on, just for the record?" Alex said.  
  
"He's not on a side." She said. "He told me he's staying out of this." Alex scoffed.  
  
"Sie, this isn't some neutral shit. He has to pick a side. So, either he's with us, or he's with them."  
  
"How can you expect him to choose?" Sierra yelled at him. "He's caught straight in the middle of this."   
  
"God, how blind are you?" Alex said. "It's obvious he's just trying to lure you to them."  
  
"Alex, shut up, you have no idea what you're talking about." She said, standing up.  
  
"If he's so harmless, Sie, why haven't you told your parents about him?" Alex asked. Sierra stopped. She looked at him.  
  
"You know why." She said. "They wouldn't accept him."   
  
Max, Maria, Michael, Isabel, Liz, Kyle and Jim Valenti stood by watching the girl lying on Liz's bed. Liz had called Jim after they took her upstairs, perhaps he knew of a reported runaway or something, the girl did have a severe beaten appearance and seemed to have been through a lot. Kyle had come along with his dad.  
  
Sierra woke up from the dream/memory like a drowning victim taking new breath. She looked around. They were people......People she knew.......All around her.....But they were different.  
  
"Are you ok?" Liz asked gently. Sierra nodded, putting her head in her hands.  
  
"How....How long was I out for?" She asked softly.  
  
"About an hour." Maria said. Sierra looked at each and every one of them, studying their faces. They were so different, so young. She opened her mouth to say everything that she had to say, but her voice caught in her throat.   
  
"I.........I should go." She said, climbing out of the bed. She quickly left the room. The others looked at one another; they quickly followed this strange girl.  
  
"Who are you?" Max asked, following the girl downstairs.  
  
"Leave me alone." She said.  
  
"Miss, are you in some kind of trouble?" Jim asked, gently taking her arm and turning her around. Sierra looked at him.  
  
"Yeah, you could say that, and unless you want to be in trouble too, I suggest you let me leave." She said softly.  
  
"What are you talking about?" Jim asked, his fatherly protective side coming up a bit.   
  
"Nothing, just nothing." She said. She tried to pull her arm out of Jim's grasp, but he held on to her.  
  
"How did you get in here?" Jim asked. "According to Liz, Maria and Michael, the door was locked." Sierra looked at them.  
  
"It wasn't." She lied.  
  
"It was." Liz insisted slightly. "I checked it. We were locking up."   
  
"I.......Well.....Apparently the lock is shit." Sierra said, her voice dripping with defiant attitude. "Now can you let me go?" She said, pulling her arm free. She looked at them; they stared at her like she was some weird alien.....Which was kind of ironic if you stopped to think about it.  
  
"Why did you come in here?" Michael asked.  
  
"Would you cut it with the questions!?" Sierra said, having fully lost every ounce of patience she had. "Jesus I didn't travel 17 years to deal with this." She said under her breath, she ran her hand through her hair. Jim stared at her.  
  
"What was that?" Sierra looked at him.  
  
"N.....Nothing."  
  
"No, you said something about traveling 17 years." He said. The others looked at her as well. Sierra sighed and sat on one of the stools by the counter with her head lowered.   
  
"I......I'm from 17 years in the future." She said softly. The room was filled with a shocked silence.  
  
"Wh....What are you talking about?" Kyle asked. "Are you on something?" Sierra's head snapped up and she glared at him.  
  
"No I'm not on anything, Kyle." She said through gritted teeth. She looked at all of them. "And I'm not crazy either." She said.   
  
"How.....How'd you know my name?" Kyle asked.  
  
"Because I know you." Sierra said exasperated. "I know all of you. Maria, Michael, Liz, Max, Isabel. Do you believe me now?" She paused. "I used the granolith and came back in time." She said.   
  
"What?" They all asked in unison. "What are you talking about....." Max asked cautiously, this could be some sort of trick to Sierra rolled her eyes.   
  
"Hey, I cut the bullshit, so it's only fair that you do the same. I'm Sierra...You all know me.....Well. You will in a few years. I'm a," she paused a second. "Friend." She said.  
  
"What kind of 'friend'?" Michael asked suspiciously. Sierra looked at him.  
  
"The kind you'll meet in a few years." She said cocking an eyebrow. Maria looked at Sierra.   
  
"What's the future like?" She asked. Sierra looked at her. She took a deep breath. "Well, up until a few years ago.....err......few years then......or whatever.....It was really great. Normal even."   
  
"And then?" Max asked. Sierra looked down.  
  
"And then the war started." She said softly. The others looked at her.  
  
"What war?" Jim asked softly.  
  
"War, between Earth and the Skins." There was silence in the room.  
  
"Who are you?" Michael asked.  
  
"I told you," Sierra said. "My name is Sier-"  
  
"How do we know you're not a Skin making this all up?"   
  
"He's right." Isabel said. "We don't know." Sierra looked down. Hearing these people, the people who were........are........will be so important to her life, and they can't trust her. She held back the urge to cry.  
  
"You don't have to trust me." She forced out. "I know I-"  
  
"I trust you." Liz said, cutting into Sierra's words. Everyone looked at Liz, shock on all their faces, all, except Maria who knew the whole future/granolith thing. "I think you're telling the truth." Liz said. Sierra looked at her.  
  
"Thank you. But, I'm not here for your trust."  
  
"What are you here for?" Liz asked.  
  
"At first, I was coming here, to 2002, to get away from 20019." She looked down. "To get away from all the death."  
  
"And now?" Kyle asked.  
  
"I'm here to warn you." She said cryptically.  
  
"Warn us? Warn us about what?" Liz asked, she subconsciously clutched onto Max's arm.   
  
"I'm not the only one here from 2019. A........acquaintance of mine and of yours in the future is trying to kill me, and probably you too. He followed me here."  
  
"Here? As in.....HERE?" Maria asked, panic lacing her voice. Michael looked at her. He wanted to touch her, bring her in his arms and hold her safely; telling her it'd all be OK. He simply scratched his eyebrow and looked at Sierra.  
  
"No, not here, here. Just here, Roswell 2002. But it won't be long before he finds us."  
  
"If he's after you, why will he come after us?" Isabel asked. Sierra looked at them.   
  
"Because he knows you. He's your enemy."  
  
"So, he's a Skin?" Max asked. Sierra looked at him. She bit her lip. She had no idea on how to tell him the truth about Travis.   
  
"OK, there's a silence. Is it me, or has anyone else begun to seriously fear silences like this?" Kyle asked. Sierra looked at him.  
  
"He's not a skin." She said. "That's all I can tell you."  
  
"Is he human?" Jim asked.   
  
"What part of 'that's all I can tell you' didn't you understand?" She said coldly. She put her hand over her mouth. "God, I'm so sorry." She said, looking down. Her tears finally began to fall. "I'm so sorry. I just can't take this." She whimpered. They all looked at her. She collapsed in a booth, putting her elbows on the table; she held her head in her hands. "Dead. Everyone's dead." She said. Michael grabbed her shoulder.  
  
"What do you mean, 'everyone's dead'?" He asked, somewhat franticly. Sierra sat there, silent for a while. She finally wiped her cheeks. She looked at Max.   
  
"An hour before I left in the granolith," she said, her chin beginning to quiver as a memory came to her head. "You were killed, right in front of me." At hearing this, everyone's eyes widened. Liz covered her mouth, as tears sprung to her eyes.  
  
"Oh god, Max." She whimpered out. Max put his arm around her and let her bury her face in his chest as she cried.   
  
"What about the rest of us?" Kyle asked. Isabel shot him a look.  
  
"Morbid much?" Isabel said. "Who the hell wants to actually know something like that?"  
  
"I know I don't." Maria said lowly.   
  
"I want to know." Jim said, softly. He looked at Sierra. Her tear stained face. Her small form. She was just a child. A child who was bringing out his fatherly instincts. Sierra quickly stood up, shaking Michael's hand off of her.   
  
"Listen, I didn't come here to tell you about your futures. I came here to make sure Travis doesn't kill you so that there is a future."  
  
"Talking about me, I see." Came a voice. Sierra turned quickly and saw Travis. He had a smirk on his lips. "Hey, baby." Sierra narrowed her eyes in hate filled slits.  
  
"Get out." She said menacingly. Travis laughed. He looked at the others in the room. He laughed again.   
  
"Jesus. Look at you. You're all so weak." He said. His eyes landed on Max, protectively holding Liz. "Well if it isn't the mighty King Max, and his whore." Max went to get up to cause some major bodily harm to this guy. No one insulted the love of his life and live to regret it. Liz's grip on his arm tightened. She looked at him pleadingly, begging him to just stay with her.   
  
"Travis, get out, now, before I throw you out." Sierra said, her anger beginning to build up inside.   
  
"Your empty threats can't scare me, Sierra." He said. She tilted her head sideways.  
  
"Remember what happened the last time you doubted what I could and couldn't do? I shot you in the goddamn arm. Don't freaking test me." She clenched her fists. The others looked at Travis and Sierra, neither quite sure what to do. Travis looked at them. He looked at Sierra.   
  
"Seeing all of them brings back so many pleasant memories." He smirked. He slowly walked over to Sierra. She glared at him, square in the eyes. What had her father told her, during war training? Never let them see you sweat. Always be the one in control. Travis drew his face closer to hers. "Especially of their deaths." Sierra tightened her jaw.   
  
"You want to kill me, fine; we'll fight, me and you, but leave them, alone." She said. Her words where filled with hatred. Travis stood back and laughed lowly.   
  
"Jesus Sierra. You're just like him." He said. Sierra decided to indulge this stupid curiosity.  
  
"Like who?" She asked.  
  
"Your father." He said. "He was such the noble war hero." Sierra looked at him. Travis thought for a second. "He's here." A sick, twisted smile crept on Travis' face. Max, Michael, Kyle, Maria, Liz, Isabel, and Jim all looked at each other. Travis saw their confused faces. "Oh!" He said, as realization hit him. "This is so classic. They don't know who you really are?"   
  
"Shut, up." Sierra said.   
  
"I'm guessing you didn't give them your last name, and then they'd know."  
  
"Shut up!"  
  
"You didn't tell them your name is Sierr-"   
  
"SHUT UP!" She screamed. Her hand shot out, releasing a blast of energy. It hit him square in the chest; he flew back through the doors leading to the backroom. Max and Michael looked at Sierra. She had a fierce look in her eyes. She looked at the others. "All of you stay here." She ordered. She headed to the backroom, on her way there; she grabbed a stool and maneuvered it in her hands so that she held it at the legs. She kicked open the swinging door, to see Travis getting up. Sierra swung the stool, catching Travis in an uppercut. He fell on his back.   
  
"AH!" He held his nose.   
  
"Oh, I'm sorry." Sierra said in mock sympathy. She hit his shoulder with the stool repeatedly. "Did I hurt your little precious face? Here, let me fix it." She went to hit him in the face again, but he grabbed the stool. He shoved it out to her, the legs hitting her with such force that she flew out of the backroom. She knew he used some of his powers in that. She quickly got up and ran back to the backroom. She jumped up and landed a kick right at his chest, knocking the wind out of him.  
  
"You bitch!" Travis coughed. His hand flew out and sent out a force, knocking her back. She fell on the ground. Travis stood up. Sierra quickly got to her feet. She knew she wouldn't be able to hold out against Travis for too long, he was more powerful then she was. She ran out the backroom, back to the others.  
  
"Get out of here." She yelled at them.  
  
"Aw, let them stay, Baby. The fun's about to begin." Travis said with a smirk on his face, he stood at the doorway of the backroom. "Now, Sie, I have a question. I don't know much about this..Time travel shit..So, tell me, if I killed your parents, here and now, that would mean you'd never exist, right?" Travis smiled.  
  
"You lay one fucking hand on them and I'll-" She was cut off by Travis sending her back over the counter.  
  
"I don't have to lay a hand on anyone, as you can see." Travis said. The others in the room had no idea what to do. Travis walked over to the counter.  
  
"It's over, Sie. Don't you get it? You and your kind are weak, nothing. Now, I gave you the chance to be part of the winning side, but did you listen? No. You had to be stubborn and a pain in my ass, just like your family!"  
  
"At least my family's not a bunch of freaks and murderers!" Sierra jumped up, punching Travis in the face, he fell back on his ass. Sierra hopped over the counter. Travis was sitting back, holding his left eye, where he had been punched.  
  
"You know, I think I'm just going to test a theory. What would happen if I killed one of your little friends here?" He said, climbing to his feet. "Would it change the future? Our future? Why don't we find out?" Before anyone had time to do anything, Travis' eyes fell on Maria. A sick grin appeared on his face. "Good bye." He said. He raised his glowing hand up. 


	3. What's in a Name?

"NO!" Sierra shrieked. She ran over and threw herself againist Maria. The two fell against a table. Maria screamed as her head hit the edge of the table.  
  
"You bastard!" Michael growled, he let his hand out and let a force out. It sent Travis out the door. "I'm going to kill that asshole!" He said. He ran out the door and looked down both sides of the sidewalk. There was no sign of Travis. "Damnit." He said. He went back into the cafe.   
  
"Maria!" Liz ran over to her best friend. "Jesus, are you alright?" Kyle pulled her to her feet. The others crowded around her. Sierra went to the door to see if Michael was all right  
  
"I'm fine." Maria assured them all, sitting in the booth. Her forehead was cut and bleeding where she hit it.  
  
"Maria." Michael rushed to Maria. "Are you all right?"  
  
"I'm fine." She said. "Just a little shocked."   
  
"You're bleeding." Michael said. Maria touched her wound and looked at her fingers with blood on them.  
  
"Oh." She said.  
  
"Here." Max went over to her and put a hand on her forehead and healed her wound. "Better?" He asked.  
  
"Yeah, thanks." Maria said. Sierra walked over to them all.  
  
"I-" She began.  
  
"Ok, what the hell is going on?" Isabel said, turning to Sierra angerilly.  
  
"I..."  
  
"You better start talking." Michael glared at her.  
  
"I should go." Sierra started to make her way to the door.  
  
"Oh no you don't!" Michael said. He grabbed her arm and spun her around.  
  
"Leave me alone." She said. Michael gripped Sierra's neck and slammed her aganist the wall. She let out a strangled cry.   
  
"Michael!" Max yelled.  
  
"That tweerp almost killed Maria, now, you're going to tell us who you are, now." He snarled. Sierra's eyes filled with tears.   
  
"Let me go." She begged.  
  
"Not until you tell us." Liz said, she believed the girl, but if this girl had caused Maria to be killed, she'd help Michael kill her in an instant. Sierra struggled to breath.  
  
"Michael, you're going to kill her." Kyle said.  
  
"Maybe I should. Maybe that's why she's here. Maybe she's just a skin, here to kill us." Sierra clawed at his hands.  
  
"I am not a skin." She rasped. Michael didn't believe her.  
  
"What's your name?" He asked.  
  
"I told you, I-"  
  
"Don't test him, kid." Kyle said. Sierra closed her eyes.   
  
"Fine. But let go of my neck first. I can't breath." She said. Michael took his hand away. Sierra quickly shoved him aside and tried to go for the door. Isabel quickly blocked her path. She turned and went to run towards the back, but Jim grabbed her. She screamed.  
  
"Let me go!" She tried to wiggle out of his grasp. Jim kept a hold on her. "Grandpa, let go of me!" She yelled. Jim stopped and dropped her. Sierra fell.   
  
"What did you say?" Jim asked. Sierra stayed on the floor, ashamed she let that out.   
  
"N.....Nothing."  
  
"Dad, she called you grandpa." Kyle said, amazed. Sierra jumped to her feet. She grinned through her tears.   
  
"What? You don't think....." She forced a false laugh. "No, I meant, granpa, like.....Old timmer..........Old man........." She said unconvincingly. Kyle sat in a booth.   
  
"Oh my god, she's my daughter." Kyle breathed out. Sierra looked at him.   
  
"Wait, if, Kyle's your dad, who's your mother?" Liz asked. Her eyes widened. "You dont mean......One of us married Kyle, do you?" Kyle shot her a look.  
  
"Don't sound so disgusted, Liz." Kyle said.   
  
"Sorry, I-" Liz started.  
  
"Kyle is not my father!" Sierra yelled.  
  
"Then who is?" Maria asked. Sierra looked at her. She looked at the others.   
  
"It's not important." She insisted. She went to go to the back room, Michael grabbed her arm.   
  
"Let us be the judge on what's important." He said. Sierra was begining to lose her paitance. They kept asking her the same question. She took a deep breath.   
  
"Let go of me." She said through clenched teeth as she tried to keep her anger in check. She clenched her fist. Michael didn't let her go. Sierra pointed her palm to a stool, it went flying across the room. Everyone jumped. "Fine!" She yelled. "You wanna know who I am? My name's Sierra Courtney Guerien!" She said. 


	4. Flashes of an unknown existance

Michael's eyes widened. He let go of her and stepped back. Sierra looked away. Michael had a dazed look in his eyes.  
  
"Michael's your father?" Max blurted out.  
  
"Well, it would explain the attitude, and the hair." Maria muttered. Sierra rubbed the bridge of her nose.  
  
"Wait, if Michael's your dad, how come you called my dad grandpa? Don't tell me science somehow manages to have men give birth in the future." Kyle said. Sierra narrowed her eyes at him.   
  
"I was.......am going to be.......whatever........born two years from now, dumbass, not 100." Sierra snapped. Kyle raised his hands up defenselivly.  
  
"Sorry, no need to bite my head off."  
  
"Wait, so, I have a kid at 20?" Michael said. He looked at Sierra. "Nice try kid. You almost had me there. Now, who are you, really?"   
  
"God dammit!" She screamed. "Look, I really don't give a crap if you believe me or not. The fact is that I got to protect you all from Sparky, or else you all won't have a future..And neither will I." Sierra said. The room was silent.   
  
"Who's your mother?" Isabel asked. Sierra looked at her.  
  
"Look, I'm five seconds from having a vain pop, do you really think that info is important?"  
  
"I think it is." Michael said. "That is, unless you're lying."  
  
"You know what! I don't friggen need this!" Sierra screamed. "Call me when Travis is about to burn your insides....Again." She spat out, leaving.  
  
Sierra ran as fast as her beaten, bruised and burning with pain legs could carry. She finally collapsed onto her knees, panting, ten blocks away from the Crashdown, only because before then she thought the others had been following her. Tears fell down her cheeks. She was weak. She let part of her out. Now they knew who she was. She had just wanted to go in, make sure Travis didn't fry them, and leave. No part of her wanted to re- connect with them, only to know that in seventeen years, they all would be dead. And there was no way to stop that from happening. Travis was already born in this present, so killing his mother-not that she hadn't done that already in her time-now would do nothing. He still grows up, and still murders all she cared about.  
  
Michael had wanted to go after the girl, but Max stopped him.   
  
"Max, what are you doing?!" Michael asked. "She's getting away!"  
  
"Michael, you're treating her like the enemy. She's your daughter." Max said. Michael yanked his arm away.   
  
"She is not my daughter. I can't believe you actually bought that story! Trust me, the last thing I'd ever do is help bring a being into this world."  
  
"He's right." Maria said. "He's not the caring for other creatures kind of person." Michael decided to ignore that little comment and continued glaring at Max.  
  
"Her little buddy just tried to kill Maria, and you're just letting her go?"  
  
"Did you see how those two were going at one another?" Jim asked. "I think those two are anything but buddies."   
  
"Don't you think it's possible it was an act to get us to trust the little bitch?" Michael asked, cocking an eyebrow.  
  
"Michael, don't call your daughter a bitch." Isabel said.  
  
"She is NOT my daughter!" Michael growled.   
  
"OK, let's not get so wrapped up in the whole was she telling the truth or not bit." Liz said quickly. "All we know right now is that there is at least one person, that guy, Travis, trying to kill us. And I have a feeling he's not going to stop until he does so."  
  
"Liz is right." Kyle said.   
  
"So, what should we do?" Maria asked.  
  
"Stick together I guess." Max said. "Liz and Maria sleep over at Isabel's place. Michael and I will be at his place, and Kyle and Jim at theirs."   
  
ROSWELL, NM, 2019  
  
Sierra stood before the court, ready to be reprimanded for her actions.   
  
"Sierra, you do understand why you are here, correct?" One of the prosecutioners asked. Sierra nodded, willing herself not to cry.   
  
"Have you anything to say in your defense?" Another asked. She kept her eyes downcast. She looked over to the side, seeing Anna's parents, their tear soaked faces.   
  
"Sierra, the court asked you a question." Came one of the voices.  
  
"No." Sierra said softly. "I have nothing to say, except my apologies." She said.  
  
"Apologies do not rectify the situation, Sierra." They said.  
  
"I know." She looked up at them. "All the apologies in the world wouldn't fix anything."  
  
"You know what you did was wrong."  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Then why did you do it?" Sierra pursed her lips before responding. She took a breath.  
  
"I saw an officer down, in a very dangerous situation. I wanted to help."  
  
"The officer gave you orders to leave. You went against said order!" Came one of the prosecuters voices.  
  
"I couldn't let him die!" Sierra yelled, her tears leaking. "If I had, then I suppose I'd be here, being prosecuted for abandoning an officer, my father." She said angrily.  
  
"Sierra, you will address this court with honor and respect!" They said.  
  
"We all know why I'm here. So, just hurry this up and discharge me already." Sierra shot back.  
  
ROSWELL, NM, PRESENT DAY  
  
Michael walked along the park the next morning. The air was crisp and raw, normal for January. He wore his leather jacket, with his hands stuffed in the pockets. He stopped abruptly when he saw a body asleep on the park bench. It was Sierra. She was in a small shivering ball, asleep. He slowly walked over to her and sat at the edge of the bench. He looked at the girl, who supposedly was going to be his daughter. She was an ok looking girl, if she really was his daughter, maybe he worried about her and boys and such. Instinctively, he removed his coat and covered her with it. The warmth of the jacket jarred her to consciousness with a small startled gasp, sitting up, expecting to see some crazed hobo or something. Michael put a hand on her shoulder. Sierra looked at him. She calmed down a bit.  
  
"Hey." She said softly.   
  
"Hey." He responded. Sierra pulled his jacket closed over her arms.   
  
"How'd you find me?" She asked.  
  
"My paternal instincts lead me to you." He said. Sierra narrowed her eyes into slits.  
  
"So I guess your snotty sarcasm wasn't something you developed just when I was born." Sierra rolled her eyes. "If you don't believe me, you could've just said so."   
  
"Fine, I don't believe you." Michael said. Sierra nodded.  
  
"All right then." She got up and tossed Michael's jacket at him, walking away. Michael caught the jacket in mid air and placed it on the bench. He got up after her.  
  
"Wait." He said. He grabbed her arm and spun her around to face him. Suddenly, he was hit with an onslaught of images.  
  
Michael stood dancing in a large banquet hall, wearing a tuxedo, with a little girl, about four or five, dressed in a white dress holding his hands and standing on his feet. She had brown hair that went to her shoulder blades, done in a half ponytail with flowers and white ribbon interwoven in her hair. The little girl smiled up at him, and he smiled lovingly back at her.  
  
"Higher daddy, higher!" The little girl giggled as Michael pushed her on a swing. Michael chuckled.   
  
"If I push you any higher, you'll fly to the moon."  
  
"Yeah!" She said, excited. "I want to go to the moon!" Michael laughed.  
  
"But," he said, stopping the swing. "Wouldn't you miss mommy and daddy? I know we'd miss you." The girl looked up at him, and giggled.   
  
"You and mommy come with me, of course." She said. Michael smiled. He knelt before her.  
  
"And what about Uncle Max, Aunt Isabel,, Alex, and everyone else?" He asked.   
  
"We can all go to the moon." She said. She thought for a second. "Do we have to bring Alex? He's a doodie head." Michael laughed, scoping her up in his arms, tickling her sides.   
  
"I think he has to come with us." He said. The girl laughed and wriggled against Michael.  
  
"Daddy!" She said between laughs.  
  
"How could you do this!" Michael was older now, yelling at the girl, but she was older now too, she was Sierra. She was standing before him in a room, tears in her eyes.   
  
"Dad, I'm sorry." She said.   
  
"You're sorry? You're sorry? Is that all you have to say for yourself?!" He yelled.   
  
"What do you want me to say?" She cried. "I know what I did was stupid. I'm stupid. I am so sorry." She sobbed, crumpling to the floor. Michael looked at her. Part of him was angry, angry that Sierra would do this, but part of him saw his daughter in pain. He knelt before her and wrapped his arms around her.  
  
"You are not stupid." He said gently. "You're my baby girl, nothing about you is stupid." He said.   
  
"Daddy, I'm so sorry, I thought....." She sobbed. Michael rocked her back and forth.  
  
"Shhhh, shhhh." He whispered. "It's ok. It's ok."  
  
Michael gasped as the connection broke. He stared at Sierra, shocked. Sierra looked back at him.   
  
"What just happened?" He asked, once he was able to speak.   
  
"I......I don't know." She said. "That's never happened to me before....except..."  
  
"Except what?" He asked. Sierra looked at him.  
  
"No......Nothing." She said, shaking her head. He looked at her.  
  
"Where those memories?" He asked. Sierra nodded.   
  
"You and me and at Kyle's wedding, you and me at the park, and you and me fighting, a few weeks before you and mom died." Michael looked at her. She sighed. "I shouldn't even be telling you this. Informing you about the future's gotta have some sort of consequence."  
  
"Who..Who's your mom?" He asked. Sierra looked at him.   
  
"I've got to go." She said, pulling her arm out of his grasp, which had been slack from the images. She went to walk away.  
  
"Wait," he said. Sierra turned back to him. "Where are you going? How will we find you again?"  
  
"Don't worry, dad," she smiled. "I'll find you." And with that, she was gone. 


	5. Fatherhood

"You mean, you saw flashes?" Isabel asked Michael, stunned. After he had gotten from his encounter with Sierra, he was in a sate beyond shock, and had Max call everyone over. Now Max and Liz sat together on the couch, Maria stood against a wall, Kyle next to her, and Isabel sat at the opposite end of the couch of Max and Liz.   
  
"Yeah." Michael said.  
  
"Of what?" Max asked.  
  
"Me, and this little girl, at a wedding, then me and the little girl at the park, then me, about seventeen or so years older, talking to Sierra."  
  
"So, what, are you saying that this girl is actually the real deal?" Kyle asked.  
  
"I think so," Michael said softly.  
  
"Wow, Michael, Mr. Skeptic, actually believing this girl, she's either Michael's daughter, or is working some serious mojo on him." Maria remarked.  
  
ROSWELL, NM, 2018  
  
Sierra, Alex and Anna strolled into the club. The laser lights and pulsating beat engulfing them.   
  
"D....Do you really think we should be here?" Anna yelled over the music as she tugged at the mini skirt Sierra had leant her. Sierra smiled at her friend.  
  
"Of course. We deserve a little fun." Sierra said, taking Anna's hands to keep her from messing with the skirt. She took Alex's hand. "Come on, let's dance." She said, pulling her two friends to the dance floor. The three jumped around danced like there was no tomorrow. Sierra smiled to see Anna loosen up and have some fun. The girl was so terribly shy and reserved.   
  
Sierra and Anna where dancing on either side of Alex when Sierra saw him. He was standing by the bar, watching her with interest. Sierra was caught by his dark blonde hair and dark brown eyes. She smiled seductively and slowly ran her tongue over her upper lip. She ran her fingers through her hair, arching her back, giving the good looking stranger a show, all the while keeping eye contact with him. Anna looked over to where her friend was staring and smiled. She looked at Sierra.  
  
"He's cute." She said. Alex looked over and then looked back at the two, anger in his eyes.   
  
"I'm going to go sit." He said, storming off the dance floor. The two watched him go. Sierra looked at Anna.  
  
"Can you go see what's bugging him?" She said, grinning. "I'm on the prowl." Anna laughed.  
  
"Yeah, have fun." Anna said, walking away.   
  
"I intend to." Sierra said. She looked back over at the bar, but the stranger wasn't there anymore. She scanned the club, not seeing him. She walked over to the bar, hopping to get a better look. He wasn't anywhere to be seen. Maybe he went to the bathroom, genius. She thought to herself. She headed over to the restrooms, passing a dark hallway. She felt someone grab her arm and yank her into the hallway, slamming her back against the wall. She didn't have time to scream or react before a pair of lips crushed against hers. Hands scrunched up her top, trying to touch her skin. She put her hands on the person's chest and pushed them away. She was met with the dark brown eyes of her stranger. He smiled at her.  
  
"You where having so much fun out there, thought we could have our own private fun." He said coolly.  
  
"What, you think I'm some slut that makes it with whatever guy I see in a club?" She said.   
  
"Course not." He said with a grin. "But, hey, I did break the ice didn't I?" Sierra looked at him, seeing he was joking about the whole 'private fun' thing, and laughed.  
  
"Guess so." She said. "I'm Sierra." She said.  
  
"Travis."  
  
ROSWELL, NM, PRESENT DAY  
  
Michael sat in the park, on the bench where he had found Sierra, staring up at the night sky. He hoped she'd return there, but after sitting there for two hours, he was beginning to lose hope. He heard footsteps coming toward him. He turned his head toward them.  
  
"Sierra?" He said.   
  
"No, it's just me." Came the voice of someone he was also happy to see, Maria. She walked over and sat next to him. She was carrying a shoulder bag.  
  
"Oh, hey." He said.   
  
"How long have you been out here?" She asked.  
  
"Uh, not sure. Two hours I guess." Maria's eyes widened.  
  
"Two hours?" She asked. "Michael, are you insane, you'll get sick in this weather, with you just wearing that leather jacket." She said.  
  
"I'm fine." He said. Maria pulled something out of her shoulder bag. Michael looked over to see a thermos.   
  
"Here, I thought you'd be out here, so I made you some hot chocolate." She said. Michael smiled gently.  
  
"You didn't have to do that, Maria." He said. Maria looked at him.  
  
"It's nothing..." She gazed into his eyes. Michael gazed into hers. The two seemed to have a brief connection before Maria quickly looked away. "..Uh......It's something....you know.......friends......do for one another." She said. Michael looked down.  
  
"Right, friends." He said. He looked over and saw Maria shiver slightly. "You cold?" He asked.   
  
"Uh....Yeah....." She said. Among other things She thought, feeling her pulse quicken from the fact that he was sitting by her. Calm down. She told herself. Remember, you broke up with him, be strong. Michael put an arm around her shoulders and pulled her close. Be strong. She repeated in her head, like a mantra. BE STONG BE STRONG BE STRONG  
  
"I guess she's not coming." Michael said. He and Maria had been sitting in the park for two hours. He sighed. Maria looked at him.  
  
"I'm sorry." Maria said. "I-"  
  
"Hi." Came a voice. They turned to see Sierra. She walked over to them. She took notice of Michael's arm around Maria's. "Am I interrupting something?" Maria was surprise to feel her heart sink a bit when Michael slid his arm off of her.  
  
"We need to talk." Michael said to Sierra.  
  
"OK." She said.  
  
"What was the whole......Flash thing, from earlier?" He asked. Sierra looked away.  
  
"It's this thing.......Sometimes when I'm really tense, or emotions are just running crazy, it just.....like erupts or something. Whatever's in me just kind of spills onto whoever's touching me."   
  
"Isn't it scary?" Maria asked.  
  
"Sometimes." Sierra said.   
  
"Where are you staying?" Michael asked.  
  
"Nowhere, I guess." Sierra said.  
  
"I don't want you to stay here in the park." He said. Sierra gave a smirk.  
  
"Tell the man you're his kid and he falls into the dad role instantly."  
  
Isabel looked at Sierra. Michael and Maria had came over a little while ago with her. Michael asked if it was all right if Sierra stayed with Isabel for a bit, seeing as there wasn't room at his place, and there was no way that Maria and Liz could explain to their parents some girl staying over, besides the two where already staying at Isabel's. Isabel agreed. Maria and Liz where out talking to the others, leaving Isabel to watch over Sierra. She had cooked Sierra some dinner, and by how quickly the girl was devouring it, Isabel guessed she hadn't eaten in a while.  
  
"Can I ask you something?" Isabel asked. Sierra looked at her, nodding. "Well," she started out nervously. "I..."  
  
"You want to know if you ever tell Jesse." Sierra said. Isabel looked at her.  
  
"Yeah.." Isabel answered. Sierra didn't speak for a while.  
  
"You do." She said. Isabel looked at her.  
  
"So...What happens?"  
  
"I don't know if I should be telling you this much." Sierra said. Isabel looked down.  
  
"That bad, huh?" Isabel said. Sierra looked at her.  
  
"Actually, no. It's good." Isabel looked up at her.  
  
"What?" Sierra took a deep breath.  
  
"Ok, well, I don't know all the details, cause well, I wasn't born yet, but, from what I've heard, you told Jesse when you found out you were pregnant."  
  
"Pregnant?" Isabel said.  
  
"Yeah. You were worried that the baby would come out looking all alien or something, so, you sat him down and told him, not wanting him to be freaked out when he sees his alien baby."  
  
"And.."  
  
"He was a little shocked and freaked. No one really knew if it was because of the alien part, or the baby part, or both, either way, he left you."  
  
"He left me?"  
  
"He had to think about stuff. He came back like a week later, and said that he loved you, and nothing could change that." Isabel smiled softly. She could feel tears well up in her eyes. She wiped at them.  
  
"Sorry." Isabel said. Sierra smiled.   
  
"It's ok." She said. Isabel got up and grabbed the hand towel in the kitchen and wiped at her cheeks. She laughed softly. She looked at Sierra.  
  
"And....The baby?" She asked.  
  
"You had a son." Sierra said. Isabel pursed her lips together.   
  
"Oh god, what's he like? What's his name? Was I a good mother?"  
  
"His name was Alexander Grant Ramirez." Isabel looked at her.  
  
"Alex.....Grant..."  
  
"I remember Alex asking you about his name. You said it was in remembrance of friends."   
  
"Yeah.." Isabel said, swallowing back tears. "Alex Whitman and Grant Sorenson." Isabel looked at Sierra. "What else can you tell me about him?" She asked. Sierra looked away.   
  
"Alex.........God, what can I say about him. He was an amazing person...Loving, kind of, passionate about life. Passionate about a girl.." She bit her lip.  
  
"A girl?" Isabel asked. "What happened?" Isabel got the feeling, from Sierra's expression, that the 'girl' was Sierra herself.  
  
"She was stupid." Sierra said. "Here was this amazing guy who would've given her the moon if she asked, and she didn't care. By the time she did.......It was too late."  
  
"Too late?" Isabel asked. She looked at Sierra. "What happened?" Sierra looked up at her with tear soaked eyes. She looked down.  
  
"I'm really tired." She said. Isabel looked at her.   
  
"Right."   
  
"Isabel? Sierra?" Came Liz's voice as she and Maria walked into the house.  
  
"Shh." Isabel said, looking at the two. She pointed at Sierra's sleeping form on the Sofa bed. Maria and Liz nodded. The three went to Isabel's room to talk.  
  
She was dressed in her favorite dress with the flowers on it. Grandma had made it for her. She carefully pushed herself on the swing, careful not to get her pretty dress dirty. Her pigtails swished in the air as she went back and forth.  
  
"Mommy! Daddy!" She giggled. "Look!" She wanted to show them how high she could go. She could see them sitting together on the sheet they had laid out for the picnic. It was her birthday. Daddy said he could push her, but she didn't let him even get up. "I'm a big girl." She huffed proudly. "I can do it by myself." Her daddy simply laughed and left her to do it.  
  
"Mommy! Daddy!" She giggled. Her giggles stopped abruptly when she saw him. The Bad Man. He was standing behind her parents.  
  
"Mommy! Daddy!" She screamed fearfully. She stopped the swing by putting her foot on the ground, causing her to fall over. There was dirt all over her pretty dress and all over her hands. Dirt........Dirt and blood. She held her hands up to her face and looked over at her parents. They where in there bed..........She wasn't wearing her pretty dress anymore....  
  
" NO!" She screamed. Maria woke up abruptly from her spot on the floor. She looked up to see Sierra gasping for air, her body shaking with terror and sobs.  
  
"Sierra?" She asked. She climbed up to the bed. She went to hug her, but Sierra flinched at her touch and moved away from her. "Sweetie? What's wrong?"  
  
"Don't." She said. "Don't call me sweetie...........She would call me that all the time.."  
  
"She...Your mother?" Maria asked. Sierra nodded. "Where you dreaming about them?" Sierra nodded again. She wiped at her cheeks.  
  
"I was the one who found them.." Sierra said. "They where together in their bed, in one another's embrace.........They loved each other so much........ I....I thought they where sleeping. I went to their room and said 'Mom, dad, wake up.' But, they weren't waking up. I tried shaking my dad, when I felt something wet."  
  
"Wet?" Maria asked.  
  
"Blood." She said. Maria's eyes widened.  
  
"Oh my god."  
  
"..I screamed so loud. I could've woken up a family on mars.." She said. She laid her head on Maria's lap and cried. Maria, so surprised by all this, simply stroked the girl's hair soothingly.  
  
"Shhhh. Shhhh. It's ok." She whispered gently.  
  
"So, what else can you tell us about the future?" Max asked. It was the next morning. Everyone sat in Isabel's living room. Sierra sighed and scratched her eyebrow. Maria's jaw dropped. Sierra caught her staring and froze, looking at her.  
  
"What?" She asked.   
  
"You scratched your eyebrow." Maria stated matter of factly. Sierra cocked her eyebrow.  
  
"Uh..yeah, I did...Is something wrong?" She asked.  
  
"No. You just looked so much like Michael when you did." Maria said.   
  
"Oh." Sierra looked down for a second and smiled softly. "My mom used to say that too. Said I was just like my father. She'd joke about how it was a miracle she could survive with the two of us." The others simply looked at her.  
  
"You miss her, don't you?" Jim asked. Sierra nodded.  
  
"I miss everything from my time. Everyone." She said softly.   
  
"Well, maybe there's a way we can fix it." Kyle said. "I mean, maybe if we like. stop this Travis guy from being born, all will be cool." Sierra looked at him and sighed.  
  
"Nice idea." She said. "Unfortunately, Travis has already been born now. Man, if I knew anything about how to pinpoint times and junk, trust me, I would've gone back enough to prevent his conception. But, I was just trying to get away, and I ended up here."   
  
"Is there anything we can do?" Isabel asked. "I mean, he doesn't seem to like us all very much."  
  
"He knows that if he kills you now, the future will be different. I won't even be in it if he murders Michael and my mom. Everything will be.....well, different. And that's exactly what he wants."  
  
"We noticed that the boy has some issues towards you." Liz pointed out. Sierra sighed.  
  
"Oh yeah. I've ticked him off. The latest thing is, well, I killed his mother." Everyone stared at her with wide eyes.  
  
"Excuse me, what was that?" Maria blurted out.   
  
"You killed someone?" Max asked. Sierra nodded. She looked at Max.  
  
"I killed her, right after she killed you." Everyone was silent as they took this all in.   
  
"OK, this whole 'guess the future thing' is really getting tiresome." Michael sighed. "I'm you're dad, so, I order you to tell us everything." Sierra looked at him and cocked an eyebrow.  
  
"You will be my dad, but right now, you're just some teenager, don't make me put you in your place."  
  
"OK, ok, let's save the family squabble for some other time." Isabel said tiredly. She looked at Sierra. "He's right though. Things would be a lot easier if you just told us everything."  
  
"I can't." Sierra said. She sighed and stood up. "You know what, it was just a mistake coming here, contacting you all. I should just go." She went to the door. Maria went over and grabbed her arm.  
  
"No way." She said. "We are not going to let you face this Travis guy alone."  
  
"She's right." Max said. "If what you're saying is true, and you are Michael's child, then that makes you family, and we're not going to abandon our family."  
  
Sierra stood outside Isabel's house, staring at the sky. Michael came out and sat with her.   
  
"I know you don't believe me." Sierra said. Michael looked at her.  
  
"I honestly don't know what to believe." He said. Sierra nodded, keeping her eyes on the sky.   
  
"If I was in your position, I'd feel the same." She said. "I mean, some girl shows up and says she's your daughter from the future. It's gotta be a little unbelievable."  
  
"Yet it's not the most unbelievable thing to happen to me." Michael muttered. Sierra gave a dry laugh.  
  
"You're an alien, you're pretty unbelievable as it is." She said. Michael looked at her.   
  
"I guess so." He said. He was silent for a while. "What was it that I saw, when I touched you yesterday?" Sierra took a deep breath.  
  
"I knew you'd bring that up eventually."  
  
"Well, that's a given." He said.   
  
"I can't tell you the wedding one. Just know that someone from the past is going to come and marry a certain future Sheriff Valenti." Sierra said. Michael blinked.  
  
"Kyle's going to be a sheriff?" He asked. "You cant be serious. He despises the whole law enforcement thing."  
  
"Trust me, you'll see first hand in the following years, stranger things will happen." Sierra smiled. "The fight we had was about me.......and Travis." She said, suddenly serious. Michael looked at her.  
  
"What do you mean?" He said. Sierra sighed.  
  
"Travis and me were a thing.....But, he was normal.....Even sweet, then suddenly something snapped and he just started being psycho like. The only persons who knew he and I were together were Alex and Annie." Michael looked at her blankly. "Oh, Izzie didn't tell you. I thought she would've after I mentioned it last night. She's going to have a kid, his name will be Alex. Annie was a friend of mine."  
  
"Was?" Michael asked.  
  
"I told you, everyone's dead back where I come from." Sierra sighed. "Annie was one of the first." She looked down. "And it was my fault."   
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"I really don't want to talk about it." She said softly, hugging herself. Michael's instincts took over. He felt a strong fatherly pull to this girl that, might or might not be his daughter. He put an arm around her shoulders. Sierra leaned into him a bit. "Travis and I weren't supposed to be together. Kind of like, Romeo and Juliet......If Romeo was a homicidal maniac......Although some analyst have thought he was......"  
  
"Well, seeing how you two were in the Crashdown, I'm guessing it didn't work out."  
  
"The guy killed my parents...." Sierra said coldly. Michael shuddered a bit. He knew that he was dead during Sierra's time, but it still freaked him out a bit to hear her say it.   
  
"I'm sorry." Was all he could say. Sierra looked at him.  
  
"Don't worry, somehow, fatherhood turns you into a less clueless person." She smiled. Michael chuckled.  
  
"Good to know." 


	6. Talks and Cocoa

Michael and Sierra stayed outside, not saying anything. Soon, Michael heard her breathing even out, meaning she had fallen asleep. He looked down at her. She was so small, so innocent looking, yet at the same time, she seemed like she had been forced to become hard and cold because of the war. He wished there was a way to make sure none of this would happen in the future. He wished there was a way to make sure that Sierra's life would be peaceful and normal. But most of all, he wished he knew what to do at all at the moment. Sierra murmured something softly in her sleep.

"Daddy...." She said, cuddling up to Michael a bit more. Michael held her close. Max came out of the house and saw the two sitting together. He went and stood by the porch.

"So, you really think this is all true?" Max asked in a low voice. Michael sighed.

"I don't know what to think, all I know is I look at her," he said, casting a look at the sleeping girl at his side. "And I feel like all I want to do is protect her. You know?" He asked. Max nodded.

"Yeah." He said. "This is all just too weird, though." Max muttered. "I mean, who is this Travis guy? Why does he want us dead? And who's his mother, who apparently killed me?" Max asked.

"I don't know, Maxwell." Michael said. "Right now, all I want to know is who my future wife is." He said. Max looked at him.

"What if it's Maria?" Max asked. Michael looked at his best friend.

"I doubt it." He said. "Maria and I are just friends; she's made sure of that." He said.

ROSWELL 2018

"I have to tell you something." Travis said. He and Sierra were sitting in Frazier woods, having a nice leisurely picnic. They had been together for a few months now. She never told him about whom her parents were, afraid he'd freak if he knew she was an alien.

"What?" Sierra asked. Travis had on a pained expression.

"This war, that's going on.................My family's a part of it." He said. Sierra stared at him.

"What?" She asked. "What do you..........."

"Sierra......my mom's on the skin's side." He said. Sierra's eyes widened. She got up quickly. "Sierra?" He asked.

"I.................................Have to go." She said. Travis got up and grabbed her arm before she could leave.

"Wait, let me explain." He pleaded.

"What? That you're a skin?" She screeched. Travis let her go.

"I'm not." He said. "I'm just like you." He said.

"What do you mean?" She asked, clueless. Travis pointed his hand to a tree branch. After a few minutes, the tree exploded into a bunch of loose leaves and splinters. Sierra stared at him wide eyed. "How did you know?" She asked. Travis looked at her.

"I always knew. That's what drew me to you in the first place. I thought..........Maybe if we were together, it would end all this fighting." He said. "I can't stand seeing all these innocent people dying because of some beef Kiivar has with my........" He paused.

"With your what?" Sierra asked. Travis looked at her. He had to tell her everything now.

ROSWELL PRESENT DAY

Michael carried Sierra back inside. Maria pulled out the sofa bed and let him lay her down. Maria then helped by pulling off her shoes. She stood back and took note of Sierra's appearance. It had been two days since she first arrived, and she still wore the same tattered and torn clothing. Michael pulled the blanket over the girl's sleeping form and leaned over, kissing her forehead softly. Maria was a little shocked at how easily Michael was falling into the father-like role. Sierra shifted slightly, moving to lay on her side in a fetal position.

"It's so weird." Michael said softly.

"What is?" Maria asked. Michael turned his head to look at Maria.

"All this stuff that she's been through, I mean she's just a kid." Michael said. Maria placed a hand on his shoulder.

"You do realize that we're all just kids too, right?" She asked. Michael sighed, nodding thoughtfully.

"Yeah, I guess it's just weird, seeing it from an outsider's perspective or something, you know." He said. Maria laughed softly.

"OK, Spaceboy, it's getting late, I think you need to go home and rest." She said. Michael looked back at Sierra.

"I don't think I want to leave her." He said. He looked at Maria. "You think Isabel would mind if I stayed?" He asked. Isabel had already gone to sleep and Liz was out with Max. Maria knew Isabel wouldn't mind.

"I don't think she would." Maria said. "You want to sit and talk?" She asked. Michael looked at her.

"Yeah, I'd like that." He said.

"I'm sorry." Alex said. He and Sierra were sitting in the woods by the lake their parents used to take them to when they were younger. They were sitting on a blanket. Sierra was staring at the lake, she felt numb. She hadn't spoken in a few days. Alex had taken her to the lake, hoping she'd open up. "I know that's not going to make things better, but I really am sorry." He said. He held her hand. "I just want you to know that I'm going to take care of you." He said. "Me, my mom and dad, Uncle Max and Aunt Liz, all of us, I mean." He said. "You're not alone."

"Al.........." She said softly, her voice hoarse from not speaking. She turned to him. "You're not going to leave me, right?" She asked. Her eyes held sadness and desperation in them. Alex quickly pulled her to him and hugged her closely.

"No, I'm not going anywhere." He said. Something inside Sierra broke and she began to cry on his shoulder. Alex tightened his hold on her and whispered soft soothing words into her ear. "OK, it's OK. Let it out, let it all out. I'm here, I'm here. I'll always be here." He said.

"No, he won't." Came a sinister voice. Sierra pulled back and saw Travis standing behind Alex. He held a knife in his hand. In a flash, he plunged the knife into Alex's back. Alex's eyes bulged out.

"Sie...." He rasped.

"Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!" She screamed. Travis vanished. Alex collapsed in Sierra's arms. Sierra held him. "No! Alex, you promised!" She wailed. "You promised you'd never leave me!" She said.

"I lo....." He whispered, reaching up to touch her cheek.

"Shh, don't........Don't waste your breath........Please, Al, hold on........." Sierra pleaded as tears cascaded down her cheeks, onto his face.

Sierra flinched as she woke up. She blinked a few times and looked around. She was on the sofa bed in Isabel's living room. She rubbed her eyes gently as she sat up.

"She looks like you, you know." Sierra heard Maria's voice coming from the kitchen. Sierra swung her legs around and slowly crept to the door and saw Maria and Michael sitting at the kitchen table talking and drinking, what she figured was either coffee or tea, seeing as they had mugs and Sierra could see steam rising from them.

"I guess she does." Michael said.

"Well, of course......In a feminine way." Maria said. "She's pretty." Sierra closed her eyes as a memory flashed into her head.

ROSWELL 2017

"You do know that Sierra's a girl, right?" Her mother said. It was one of the times that she was visiting the base. She and Michael were sitting on his bed in his private quarters. Sierra was outside the door, listening in.

"Of course." Michael said.

"So, what's the problem with the dress I bought her for the banquet tomorrow?" She asked.

"It's too.....................short! I mean, I don't need men staring at my baby girl." Michael said. Sierra heard her mother laugh softly.

"She's growing up, Soldier, we've got to deal with it.

THE NEXT NIGHT

The Guerin family walked into the banquet hall at the base. Lt. Guerin had his wife on one arm and his daughter on the other. Of course, he had been right, people did stare. It wasn't every day that Sierra Guerin looked so..................girl-ish. As they passed by some of the guys in Sierra's troop she smiled at them.

"Hey guys." She said. Of course, the guys were too shocked to say anything as their jaws hung open and drool formed at the corners of their mouths. Michael narrowed his eyes.

"Eyes forward, men!" He growled, as he saw their eyes wandering to his daughter's chest. The men snapped into attention.

"Uh....Yes sir." One of them said. His wife elbowed him in the ribs. She sighed and looked to see their friends. Alex was sitting with his parents. He looked over at Sierra and was shocked. Here was the girl he had known all his life and she looked............stunning. He told his parents he'd be right back. Isabel and Jesse smiled knowingly, noticing the look he had on his face at the sight of Sierra. He walked up to the Guerins.

"Alex, hey." Sierra smiled, noting he didn't look too bad in his tuxedo. He smiled at her.

"Hey Sie." He said. He looked at the adults. "Good evening Lt., Mrs. Guerin." He said politely. Michael smiled at the fact that this kid, who was like a nephew, or a son to him, was showing him this official respect in this military setting. "I was wondering if it would be all right if I asked your daughter to dance." He said. Michael had no problem with Alex dancing with Sierra. If anything, he knew she'd be safe with him. Alex and Sierra were like siblings, basically like how Michael and Isabel where when they were kids. They weren't related by blood, but they shared a closeness that resembled that of a sibling relationship.

"Of course." He said, letting go of his daughter. Sierra hooked her arm in Alex's as they walked to the dance floor. Once they began to dance, Alex stared at her. Sierra glared at him.

"Knock it off." She said. Alex blinked and gave a lopsided smile.

"Sorry, I guess I'm a little shocked." He said.

"Why?" Sierra asked. Alex smirked.

"I've never seen you look pretty." He said. Sierra grounded her teeth and stomped on his foot. "OW!" He hissed.

"You're not funny." Sierra said. She pushed him away and walked off.

"Sierra! Wait, I was just kidding." He yelled after her as he tried to follow her.

ROSWELL PRESENT DAY

"It's weird." Michael said, his voice bringing Sierra back to the present. "I mean me....a kid? Or better yet....Me, married? Seems a little....."

"Unlike you?" Maria asked. Michael gave her a mean look, causing Maria to erupt in a peal of laughter. "I'm sorry, that didn't come out right." She said between giggles.

"How was it supposed to come out?" He asked. Maria tilted her head to the side a bit.

"You know, you can hear much better if you're in here." She called out. Sierra sighed. She stepped into the doorway.

"How'd you know?" She asked.

"I just had a feeling there was someone listening in." She smiled. Michael looked at her.

"I thought you were sleeping." He said. Sierra shrugged.

"I woke up." She said. Maria pushed out the chair between herself and Michael, indicating that Sierra could sit. Sierra took the hint and sat down.

"Want some cocoa?" Maria asked. Sierra smiled.

"Wow, I haven't had coca in a while. My mom used to make it for me when I was little on Saturday and Sunday mornings in the winter. We'd just sit at the kitchen table talking and sipping cocoa with marshmallows in them." Sierra said with a distant look in her eyes. Maria got up and poured some coca for Sierra. She placed it in front of her.

"Isabel doesn't have any marshmallows, sorry." She said. Sierra shook her head.

"It's no big. Thanks." She said. She took a sip, and then quickly placed the mug back, placing a hand on her mouth. "That wasn't too bright of me." She said sheepishly. She put her hand on the mug and concentrated for a little bit, lowering the temperature of the liquid, then took another sip. "Much better." She smiled. Michael and Maria were staring at her. "What?"

"Nothing, you're just......so blasé about using your powers." Maria said.

"Is that a problem?" She asked, somewhat self-conscious. Michael put a hand on hers.

"No, of course not." He said, giving her a fatherly smile. Sierra smiled back at him. Maria looked at them. Well, someone was certainly a daddy's girl, Maria thought. She wasn't jealous, why should she be? Sierra was............well, was going to be.........his daughter.....and Michael was her bo...........friend, friend, Michael was her friend. She looked at Sierra and gave a warm smile.

"Hey, since you might be here for a while, I was thinking maybe we should get you some clothes. I mean, no offense, but you do look like you've been through a world war."

"Well, I was." Sierra pointed out.

"Yeah, I know that, but do you really want people to stare? Questions might get asked, cover stories will be needed to be invented, and-"

"Maria, I think she gets the point." Michael said, smiling a bit at her tendency to babble. Sierra looked at her outfit. Maria did have a point.

"I don't want to be a bother." Sierra said. Maria waved her hand dismissively.

"Are you kidding? Meshoppinggood times had by all." She joked. Sierra laughed. She felt so good right now. She wasn't thinking about Travis, or how things were back in her time. All she thought about was sitting here and feeling happy.


	7. Cave Confrontation

Hey guys. Anyway, thanks so much for the reviews. By the way, the last line by Maria in the last chapter: "meshoppinggood times had by all" got screwed up in Microsoft word. It was supposed to say "me plus shopping equals good times had by all" I did the symbols, but I guess m. word or deleted them. Oh well. Enjoy the chapter.

----

A little while later, Michael went to sleep. Sierra told him he could have the sofa bed since she wasn't tired yet. She and Maria just sat in the kitchen talking.

"So, Michael told me about you and Travis.." Maria said. "I'm sorry."

"For what?" Sierra asked.

"Well, it must be hard fighting someone who you were once close with." Maria said. Sierra pursed her lips together then looked at Maria.

"You'd be surprised how easily I let it go once he started killing people I cared about." She said. Maria looked down.

"So, did you know me?" Maria asked. "I mean, was I-"

"One of the people killed?" Sierra asked. Maria let out a breath.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't-"

"No." Sierra said. "I only knew about you from what dad and the others told me." Sierra said. "You were off perusing your music career." Maria looked at her.

"Did..........Did I ever, you know, become famous?" She asked. Sierra smiled.

"I'm not supposed to tell you this much about the future." She said. Maria groaned.

"Aw, come on, give me something!" Maria protested.

"Maria, I'm not some sort of fortune teller!" Sierra laughed.

"Well, you kind of are." She said.

"Look, do you think you'll be famous?" Sierra asked.

"I guess, I don't know." Maria said. "Maybe."

"Then hold on to that."

"Is this your way of telling me that I will be famous?" Maria asked.

"No, it's my way of saying I ain't telling you jack." Sierra grinned. Maria gave her a mean look.

"Oh fine." Maria sighed.

"So, you and my dad were an item?" Sierra asked. Maria looked at her surprised. "The other night, when you two were in the park waiting for me, I sensed some vibes."

"I........Yeah, we used to be." Maria said. "We're just friends now." She blinked. "Why am I talking about this with you? You're his.....Well, you will be his daughter." Maria said. "Man my life is so weird." She said with a small laugh. Sierra smiled.

"I know, it's kind of weird for me too. I mean, seeing everyone as just a few years older then me and seeing this whole town and thinking 'hey, that should be something else' or something, it's just freaky. I mean, the UFO center, it gets converted into a night club for crying out loud." Sierra laughed.

"A night club? What about Brody?" Maria asked.

"You mean that guy that owned it? I think he moved to be closer to his ex and kid or something, I'm not sure." Sierra said. She sighed.

"So, I wasn't in your life?" Maria asked. "At all?" Sierra shook her head. Maria looked at her. "Well, I wish I was."

"No you don't." Sierra said quickly. Maria looked at her. "Everyone in my life is dead. It's like everyone I touched was just doomed."

"Sierra, you know that's not true. What happened to your family and friends wasn't your fault." Maria said comfortingly. Sierra looked at her; tears were collecting in her eyes.

"Oh yeah? Then why is it that everything around me started turning to shit right around the time Travis was in my life?" Sierra asked. "Why is it that Annie and my parents and everyone else lost their lives then? Huh? Tell me that." Sierra's voice hitched a bit as she tried to hold back her sobs. "You know what; maybe Travis isn't the one to blame. Maybe none of this would've happened if I had never been born."

"I'm sure that having you around enriched so many people's lives." Maria said. "I mean, I've only known you what, a couple of days, and I already feel like anyone who knew you...........or will know you...........is incredibly lucky."

"God, why didn't I listen to everyone who tried to warn me?" Sierra asked herself softly. "My friends, when I told them who Travis was, they told me to break it off but I didn't listen. I was so convinced that I was in love and that Travis and I being together would fix things, you know? Star-crossed lovers and all that bull like Romeo and Juliet, except I thought we could succeed in bringing the two sides together and ending the war for good."

"What do you mean? What power over the war will Travis have?" Maria asked. Sierra shook her head.

"I can't." She said. "I can't tell you. It'll mess everything up." Sierra said.

"What do you mean?" Maria insisted. "How will it mess everything up?" Sierra sprang to her feet.

"I've got to go." She said. And with that, she ran out of the house.

----------------

ROSWELL 2018

"I'm going to tell them if you won't." Alex swore. He and Sierra were sitting at the base in the common room. There were some other people there, but they were on the other end of the room.

"Tell who what?" Sierra asked as she absentmindedly flipped through a magazine. Alex leaned forward.

"Tell your parents, my parents and Uncle Max about Travis." He hissed. Sierra's head shot up and she nearly threw the magazine on the table.

"What?" She asked lowly.

"Sierra, they have to know." Alex said.

"Wh-Why do they have to know? And besides, I told you and Annie about it in confidence, not so you could use it to blackmail me." She said.

"Blackmail?!" Alex said, louder then intended. Some of the people looked up at him. He sighed and looked back at Sierra. "Blackmail?" He said in a lower voice. "How the hell is this blackmail? I'm just telling you this for your own good."

"Yeah, well, Alex, I'm a big girl, I think I know what's for my own good." She snapped at him lowly. Alex rolled his eyes.

"Travis is the enemy." He said through clenched teeth. "I can't believe you're too horny and love sick to see that." Sierra glared at him. Alex stared at her, regretting what he had just said. Sierra's hand flew across his face.

"You're just jealous that someone loves me." She growled. She got up and stormed out of the common room, leaving Alex and other people staring at her.

--------------------

ROSWELL, PRESENT DAY

"Where do you think she could've gone?" Michael asked. He, Isabel and Maria were in Maria's car. After Sierra had run out of the house, Maria awoke Isabel and Michael and called Max, Liz and the Valentis. The others were searching in either Max's car.

"I have no idea." Maria said.

"We've got to find her." Isabel said, nervously turning her wedding band around her finger. Maria's cell phone rang. She quickly answered it.

"Hello?" She asked.

"Maria, it's me." Came Kyle's voice over the phone. "Listen, Max thought of something, what if she's at the cave."

"What cave?" Maria asked, her concern for Sierra blocking her rational thinking.

"**The** cave." Kyle said. "As in the one where that thing was."

"WHAT THING?!" Maria yelled. Isabel reached up from the back seat and yanked the phone away from Maria.

"Let a calm person talk." Isabel said softly. "Hello?" She said into the phone.

"Isabel, Max thinks that maybe Sierra might've gone to the cave in the dessert." Kyle said.

"Well, we're closer to it, so we'll go check it out." Isabel said. She hung up. She looked at Michael. "Max thinks she might have gone to where the granolith was." Isabel said.

"Why the hell didn't Kyle say that in the first place?" Maria snapped.

-----------

Sierra climbed up the rocks to the cave where the granolith once was and would be again in a decade or so. She sat on the ground.

"I can't do this.." She whispered to the air. "I can't.." She said, cutting herself off with her sobs. "I need help and you're not here and no one understands." She said. "I'm so scared, but I can't be scared because I'm the only one who knows what to do...But I don't know what to do." She whimpered.

"Who ya talking to?" Said a voice. Sierra turned and saw Travis standing at the mouth of the cave. "You haven't gone crazy, have you?" He asked. Sierra climbed to her feet, balancing herself against the wall of the cave.

"Go away." She growled. Travis smirked.

"Me-ow." He said. "Little Miss Hellcat, I see." He said. Sierra glared at him.

"Why are you here? Why are you in this time?" She asked. Travis looked contemplative for a bit.

"Hmm, I don't know." He said. "Maybe it's to make sure you're never born. You killed my mother, you bitch!" He yelled.

"You killed everyone I ever loved." Sierra screamed. Travis smirked.

"Now, now, I wasn't the one who bombed Isabel and Jesse's car, nor did I kill Liz or your precious King."

"No, but your whore of a mother did." Sierra spat out. Travis used his powers to slam her against a wall. Sierra cried out as she felt the jagged pieces of rock pierce her back and arms.

"Don't you ever talk about my mother like that!" Travis yelled.

"Why? It's true. Your mother was a disgusting, back-stabbing, murderous bitch, and I'm glad I killed her!" Sierra screamed. Travis growled and pressed her harder against the wall.

------

Michael, Maria and Isabel got out of Maria's car just to hear Sierra cry out in pain.

"Come on." Michael said to Isabel as they headed to climb up the rocks. "Maria, stay here and call the others, we might need back up." He said. Maria quickly nodded and grabbed her phone. She dialed Kyle's number.

"Yeah?" Came Kyle's voice.

"Sierra's at the cave, and she might be in trouble." She said. She heard Kyle relay the message to Max. "We'll be right there." Kyle said. Maria hung up the phone and looked up. Her instincts drove her to climb up the rocks after Isabel and Michael.

------------

"I should've killed you when I had the chance." Travis snarled.

"Guess you're too much of a wussy." Sierra forced out.

"Sierra!" She heard Michael's voice.

"Awww, Daddy's come to save his little girl." Travis said in a voice with mock sweetness. Sierra saw Michael and Isabel at the entrance of the cave.

"Get...Out....Of......Here..." Sierra forced out to the two.

"Oh, the big powerful Sierra, refusing help, how noble." Travis mocked. He threw her against another wall and let her fall to the ground. Sierra lay on the ground in a bleeding heap. Michael blasted some rocks near Travis.

"You ever touch her again I swear-" Michael began.

"A little late for that, huh pops?" Travis countered. "I've touched her plenty of times." He smirked. Michael growled and tossed him backwards with his powers. Travis simply laughed. Isabel helped Michael in holding him down. Maria made it to the cave. She saw Sierra laying there.

"Oh god." She said. Michael turned and saw Maria.

"Get Sierra out of here." He ordered. Maria nodded. She ran over to her.

"The guest of honor can't leave yet." Travis chuckled. He made Maria fall.

"Leave her alone!" Sierra grunted through her pain. She struggled to get to her feet. Travis pushed Isabel and Michael back out of the cave and off the hill of rocks. The two were sent flying to the ground beneath them. "No!" Sierra screamed.


	8. Battle Scars

Sierra winced, preparing for pain......nothingness........whatever she'd feel now that she'd fade into nonexistence since her dad was dead. But it didn't come. Sierra balanced her self against the wall of the cave and went to the edge to look over. Tears of relief came to her eyes at what she saw. Michael and Isabel were floating on a green force field..........Max's force field. He was struggling to hold it up as he slowly lowered them to the ground.

"Damn." Travis growled.

"Maria, Sierra, get out of there!" Max yelled. Sierra ran to Maria's side.

"Get up." She said softly. She pulled her up with her good arm; the other was dislocated, groaning slightly because of her wounds. Maria got up and took Sierra in her arms, letting her put her weight on her. Travis blocked the exit.

"I don't think so." He said lowly.

"Yeah, well, you're an idiot." Sierra forced out. She outstretched her good arm and swept it to the side, using her powers to send Travis head first into the wall of rocks. He fell on the ground, unconscious.

"Is he dead?" Maria asked.

"No, I'm not _that _lucky." Sierra said softly. Maria dragged her out of the cave. Kyle and Jim met them right outside. Jim scooped Sierra up in his arms and carefully walked down. Kyle took Maria's arm and helped her down. Michael ran to them as soon as they were down. Michael went to Maria.

"Are you all right?" He asked. He pushed her hair back, checking for wounds.

"Yeah, I'm fine." She said. "Go check on Sierra." Michael nodded and went to Jim, who had just set Sierra down. Michael kneeled beside her. He saw all the cuts she had and her shirt was covered in blood and had more holes in it from the rocks, not that it wasn't already in bad shape to begin with.

"Max, heal her." Michael pleaded. Max nodded and went over, he was just about to put his hand on one of her wounds.

"No!" She yelled. Everyone stared at her. "You can't heal me." She said.

"Sierra, you're covered in cuts." Michael said. Sierra looked at them.

"You can't." She said. "You'll see the future, and I can't let you do that, who knows what badness that can cause." Sierra said. "I'll be fine, just give me a first aid kit, I can take care of myself, I've done it before."

"I've got one at my house." Jim said.

"All right, we'll all meet there." Max said. Michael picked Sierra up and carried her to the Jetta.

----

The gang was now all sitting in Valenti's living room. Kyle brought out some bandages and rubbing alcohol. Maria took the alcohol and some cotton balls and rubbed at the cuts on Sierra's arms.

"Sorry, it might sting." Maria said. Sierra hissed slightly.

"It's OK." She said. "I've felt worse."

"You've got cuts on your back." Isabel said. "We're going to have to take your shirt off." Kyle was about to suggest they go in his room when Sierra unbuttoned her shirt.

"Sierra!" Michael exclaimed. Sierra rolled her eyes.

"Chill out, dad." She said softly. She turned her back to the others and slowly slid the shirt down. Michael glared at Kyle, Jim and Max.

"Oh, look at that....Wall over there..." Kyle said as he, Michael, Max and Jim turned around. Sierra chuckled slightly. She pulled the shirt around to cover her front and held it up with her functioning arm. Maria, Isabel and Liz gasped.

"Oh god." Liz muttered.

"What?" Michael asked, not turning around.

"It's nothing. They're just reacting to my battle scars." Sierra sighed. She had a long scar going from her right shoulder blade to the small of her back in a jagged line and had bruises that were close to healing and old cuts in different places on her back and shoulders. Maria gently smoothed Sierra's hair, as if to comfort her. She dabbed at the new wounds with the alcohol.

"Uh, I'll go get a shirt for her." Kyle said. He went to his room, careful to avert his eyes when he passed Sierra. He grabbed a long blue button down shirt and brought it back to the living room, yet again careful to avert his eyes. He held it out to one of the girls, not really sure which one. Isabel took it from his hands and sat at the other side of Sierra and waited for Maria to finish cleaning Sierra's cuts and putting dressings on it. A few minutes later, Isabel and Maria were both helping her into the shirt. Maria carefully slid the girl's arms into the sleeves and Isabel buttoned the shirt. It was rather large on Sierra, but she didn't mind.

"You guys can turn around now." Liz said. All four men did so. Sierra stood up and limped over to the archway that led to the kitchen.

"You need something?" Jim asked. "Aspirin? Water?" He asked. Sierra shook her head.

"No, just hang on a second. She stood by the wall for a minute or so, taking a few deep breaths and gripping the wall with her hand. Then, in a lightning fast movement, she slammed her hurt shoulder against the wall. Their eyes all widened and they cringed. "AH!" She yelled. She bit her lip to keep herself from shouting anything else. The others heard a crack when she had slammed against the wall. She rested her forehead against the wall, taking a few deep breaths.

"Whoa." Liz breathed out.

"Just a little trick dear old dad taught me after a few unpleasant training sessions at the base." Sierra said.

"Ah, father daughter bonding...With replacing dislocated shoulders, how sweet." Maria said. Sierra chuckled.

"We ain't exactly the Waltons." Sierra said. She rolled her shoulder a bit, hissing softly at the stiffness she felt.

"Are you OK?" Michael asked, going to her and putting a hand on her other arm. Sierra nodded.

"I'm sorry, for running out." She said. "I just...Needed some time alone."

"And you decided to use that time by taking on Travis?" Maria asked.

"He showed up after I got there. He must've figured I'd be there, like you guys did."

"OK, we've now come face to face with this guy twice, and so far the tally is that Maria, Michael and I have all just narrowly escaped death, I think it's time we had a Q&A." Isabel said.

"I told you, I can't-"

"Look, if we have any chance of protecting you and ourselves and helping you make sure there's a future we need a little background information here." Isabel said. Sierra sighed, realizing she had a point. She sat back down on the couch.

"Fine. I'll tell you as much as I can." She said. "Where do you want me to start?"

"What's up Travis' butt seems like a good place." Maria said.

"She's right. If he's not a skin, why does he hate us so much?" Max asked.

"His mother must've poisoned his mind against you all."

"And what does his mother have against us?" Michael asked. Sierra looked down.

"She...............Has some issues." Sierra said.

"Vague much?" Kyle commented.

"I......I can't tell you about his mother......You're not going to like it." Sierra said softly, looking down.

"Try us." Isabel said.

"The woman who killed you, Max, Travis' mother, and who I killed for killing you, is the same woman who killed your friend Alex." Sierra said. Everyone was quiet as they tried to grasp what she had just said, and unsure if they had heard her correctly.

"But.....Tess killed Alex." Liz said softly.

"Bingo." Sierra said.

"Wai........Wait a minute....Tess is Travis' mother?!" Maria asked, shocked.

"Yeah." Sierra said. She looked at Max. Max's eyes widened as he caught on to what she wasn't saying.

"No." He said, shaking his head. "I don't believe that....I won't believe that." The others looked at Max, and then looked back at Sierra.

"Please don't be implying what we all think you're implying." Liz pleaded softly.

"No way, it's not possible." Isabel said.

"Is it? Is he..." Max asked, his voice trembling.

"Yes, Max. Travis is your son." Sierra said softly.

----

AN: I bet you guys weren't expecting that, were ya? :-D


	9. Modern day Romeo and Juliet

"No, you're lying." Max said, shaking his head, refusing to believe that that person who was trying to kill them was his son. "It can't be."

"It is." Sierra said. "I know this has got to suck majorly-"

"No you don't, you have no idea. You're telling me that the same guy who is doing all this is my son? And now you're telling me you understand?" Max scoffed. Sierra rolled her eyes and looked at him.

"Hey, how do you think I felt when he started going all homicidal? I was in love with him for crying out loud."

"But...How can he be doing this? I mean, we're his family." Isabel said.

"Yeah, but so is Tess." Maria pointed out.

"Look, I don't know what happened, OK? I mean, Travis and I had a plan." Sierra said.

"What sort of plan?" Liz asked. Sierra sighed. She looked down and wrung her fingers in her hand. She scoffed slightly.

"We thought we were like a modern day Romeo and Juliet or something. I mean we thought that our love could end all the crap going on around us. It was perfect. He was so different then. He was caring, kind, he couldn't hurt a fly." Sierra said, remembering how things were.

"Are you sure you're talking about the same guy?" Kyle interjected. "I mean, he is like major evil."

"Yeah, I kinda noticed that." Sierra said in a sarcastic tone. "I have no idea what happened. One day he's sweet and trying to bring the two sides together, next day he's the cold evil shell of a person you just saw."

"So, before the big change, he cared about us?" Isabel asked.

"That's pushing it." Sierra breathed out. "Tess did poison his mind against you all, but the fact remained that he wasn't a cold blooded evil thing like she was. He hated seeing people getting caught in the crossfire of the problems between our side and their side." She looked up at Max. "But boy, did he hate you." Sierra then turned to Liz. "He didn't think too kindly of you either. But I was trying to get him to see Max, you and everyone for who you all were, not the people that his mother made him out to be. I was making some progress, and that's when he changed."

"I guess the whole hell hath no fury as a woman scorned does apply to Tess." Maria muttered.

"You think mommy dearest made him change his point of view?" Kyle asked. Sierra shrugged.

"It seems like the best logic. But I don't know how she could've done it. I mean, he was so determined with ending the war. He and I had a strong connection. I mean, what could've turned him against me?" She asked to no one in particular.

"No offense, but you seem to be putting a lot on this whole love theory." Michael said. "If he loved you, he wouldn't have turned against you, simple as that."

"So, then the question is, what made him fall out of love?" Maria asked. Liz seemed to flinch at that, not that anyone noticed. Sierra thought for a second. She gasped.

"What?" Michael asked. Sierra blinked a few times.

"After Max and Tess died and I went to use the granolith, Travis showed up. He said something about me betraying him.." Her voice trailed off. "He made it seem that something I did made him do all the things he did."

"Well, do you have any idea what that was?" Isabel asked.

"No clue." Sierra said.

"Well that's a big help." Max said sarcastically. Everyone looked at him; it wasn't like him to be that way...That was more Michael's role. Sierra got up and went up to Max.

"Look, I know the idea of your flesh and blood being the evil guy isn't exactly great, but maybe you should've thought about that before you got hot and heavy with that murderous hoe." Sierra spat out.

"I was going through a rough time.." Max said. "Alex had just die-"

"Because Tess killed him." Sierra said, cutting him off. "Now, there are many people you can be mad at right now. You can be mad at Tess for killing Alex, taking your son to Antar and turning him into the man you see today, or you can be mad at yourself for not seeing her for who she really was long ago, but don't you even dare try directing that anger to me, got it?" Sierra snapped at him. "I've got a lot of anger and just generally not good feelings pent up in me right now and you so do not want me to unleash that on you."

"OK, ok." Jim said, taking Sierra's arm and gently pulling her back. "We all need to just relax." Sierra let Jim pull her back, but she was still glaring at Max.

"I need some air." Max said as he walked out of the house. Liz stood up and followed. Sierra sighed and sat down.


	10. Tension

Max sat outside Valenti's house.

"Max?" Liz asked. She sat down beside him. Max looked at her. Liz saw tears in his eyes.

"Liz," he began, his voice choked around the lump in his throat. "It can't be true…..Right?" He asked. Liz looked at him sadly and put her arms around him, pulling him close. Max nestled his head in the crook of her neck and cried. Liz stroked his hair gently.

"I don't know, Max." She replied honestly.

---

"I'm sorry, about Max." Isabel said after a long period of silence in the room.

"I guess I jumped onto the confrontation train a little too quickly myself." Sierra admitted. "The thing you guys' got to understand is that Travis wasn't always like this. He was different. We were in love."

"So, are you saying that if it comes to the final showdown, you don't want him dead?" Jim asked. Sierra's eyes turned cold.

"I wouldn't go that far." She said. "That fucker either killed or was pretty much involved in the killing of every single person I cared about. The key word here is we _were _in love."

"Good." Michael said. He wasn't about to pull any punches on the guy who had tried to hurt Maria, Isabel, himself and had succeeded in hurting Sierra many times.

"Hold your horses." Sierra said. She stood up and came face to face with Michael. "If it comes down to the final showdown, no one's taking him out but me. Understand?"

"Maybe it shouldn't come down to the two of you. He can really hurt you." Maria said. Sierra turned to her.

"You think I don't know that?" She asked. "He's got more powers that me, or anyone of you. He's got some of Tess, some of Max, and some of the Skins' powers that he picked up by being raised around them." Sierra sighed. "Look, none of you can get hurt, do you understand that? Anyone of you gets in it with him and he gets the upper hand, it could severely fuck up the future. Even to the point of me not existing. And since I have grown pretty fond of existence, I really don't want that to happen." Everyone was quiet, realizing that she had a point.

"Wait a second." Maria finally said. "You told me I wasn't in your life at all."

"Yeah, so?" Sierra asked.

"The first night, when Travis attacked me, you saved me. How would my death affect your existence?" She asked. Everyone else looked at Sierra. Sierra paused, trying to think of what to say.

"Simple," she began. "You're all mega close. If you die it would affect everyone else making it harder to fight against Travis." Maria's expression turned to hurt.

"So, you're just keeping me alive so everyone else will be good little soldiers?" She asked.

"No, that's not-"

"Wow, I feel so important now." Maria said sarcastically. "I think I'm just going to go home, seeing as I'm probably the lease savory target." Maria got up and went to the door. Sierra clenched her fist. She couldn't let Maria leave.

"I lied." Sierra finally said. Maria stopped.

"What?"

"I lied to you." Sierra said. "You do have an impact on my existence, a big one."

"Really?" Maria asked, not believing her.

"Look, let's just settle down. It's been a long night and we should all just get some rest." Jim said. Liz and Max walked back into the house. Max was wiping at his cheeks.

"Max, are you all right?" Isabel asked. Max didn't respond. How was he supposed to respond after finding out his son was a murderer?

"Hang on, hang on, Sierra was about to tell me what impact I have in her existence." Maria cut in, crossing her arms. Sierra's chin quivered as she tried to hold back tears.

"You-"

"Maria, just back off." Michael snapped at her. Maria looked at him.

"Oh, you're going to get in on me too? I guess I should expect that, like father like daughter." Maria snapped.

"Oh quit acting like a child." Michael said, rolling his eyes.

"I'm the child? _I'm _the child? Oh, that's rich, that's hilarious!" Maria yelled.

"Stop it, both of you." Isabel pleaded. Somehow almost everyone had erupted into shouting back and forth at each other. Some spouting insults, some trying to stop it. Sierra stood by the wall, covering her ears.

"I don't even know why I ever tried getting through to you!" Maria yelled at Michael. "I should've just cut my loses and moved on."

"Didn't you just do that a couple of weeks ago?" Michael snapped.

"Except for the moved on part." Isabel chimed in, sticking up for Michael.

"Oh, screw you both! I know see why you two were betrothed on your alien home world. You're both jerks!" Maria yelled.

"Maria, calm down." Kyle said, trying to soothe her.

"Guys, this isn't resolving anything." Liz said. The shouting continued.

"Stop it." Sierra whispered. "Stop it." She said again, getting a little louder. "Stop it….Stop it………Stop it……….STOP IT!" She said, finally yelling above everyone else, causing them to stop and look at her. "I DIDN'T COME HERE TO LISTEN TO YOU ALL SQUABLE LIKE CHILDREN!" She screamed. "NOW EVERYONE CALM THE FUCK DOWN!" Some empty whisky bottles that were on top of Jim's cabinets for decoration exploded. Sierra took a deep breath. "Next person to yell, or say anything for that matter, will end up like those bottles. At this point, I don't even care if I cease to exist!" She crumbled to the floor in a sitting position.

"She's right. We need to just calm down." Kyle said.

"Bite me, Buddha." Maria barked. She stormed up to Sierra. "I want the truth, and I want it now." She demanded. Sierra looked at her. She slowly rose to her feet.

"You want the truth?" Sierra asked.

"Yes, I do." Maria said. Sierra's hand flew across Maria's face, slapping her hard. Maria stumbled to the side.

"You don't deserve the truth." Sierra snarled. Maria glared at Sierra.

"You bitch." She growled as she went to hit her. Jim grabbed her quickly, holding her back.

"Okay, that's it." Jim said as he struggled to hold Maria back. He dragged her to the couch and forced her to sit down. "Everyone just settle down."

"I'm out of here." Sierra said as she went to the door. "Don't follow me." She barked as she slammed the door behind her.


	11. Make it all better

Hey guys, sorry for not updating in a while.

-

Everyone stared at the door. Michael looked at Maria. Maria simply sat there, nursing her hurt cheek.

"Someone should go after her." Kyle said.

"Maybe we should just let her cool off for a little bit." Liz said.

"Not while psycho boy is out there." Michael said, heading for the door.

"Thanks, Michael." Max said, feeling stung. Michael looked at him.

"Get over it Maxwell. You know, Sierra was right, if you hadn't slept with Tess in the first place, this wouldn't have happened." Michael snapped.

"It's not like you were singing the 'stay away from Tess' tune when I told you. If I remember correctly, the only part you didn't like was the fact that she got pregnant."

"Well, perhaps you should've put a jimmy on your willie." Michael replied.

-

Sierra slowly walked through the part. She sighed as she sat down on a bench. She hadn't meant to hit Maria, it just happened. She was so angry and couldn't take anymore shouting. If it hadn't been Maria who got in her face, Sierra would've slapped anyone. She pressed her lips together softly.

"I wish there was something I could do." She whispered softly. "Something to fix everything."

-

Back at the Valenti house, everyone sat down, no one really speaking to anyone else. Jim had managed to convince Michael that Sierra would be all right and they should just all stay inside. Maria sighed, not being able to take the silence anymore. She got up and walked out. Michael stood and went after her. He found her standing a few feet away from the porch.

"You shouldn't' be going off alone." Michael said, walking up to her. Maria turned to him, giving him a face that screamed 'don't even start with me'. Michael sighed. "I'm sorry………About the stuff I said earlier." He said. Maria looked at him, her face softening a bit. "I mean, I guess you had a point, Sierra shouldn't have lied to you. I mean, it would be nice if she'd just tell us what the big secret is, with everything, you know?" Maria nodded softly. He stuffed his hands in his pockets. "So, do you really think I'm a jerk?" He asked with a smirk. Maria looked at him, rolling her eyes.

"Well, you sure have some jerk-like qualities." She said. Michael nodded.

"Guess so." He said.

"But, no, I don't think you're a jerk." She said. Michael smiled. Maria rolled her eyes again and shoved him playfully. Michael took her hand in his, both laughing a bit. They looked into each other's eyes, their laughter dying down. Ever so slowly, they closed the distance between them and met in a soft kiss. The kiss quickly intensified as their tongues slowly slid into one another's mouth. After a while, both quickly pulled back.

"I'm sorry." Michael said. "I shoul-"

"It's my fault, I-" Maria began, both babbling softly. They looked away. "…….I'm not really sorry." She whispered softly. She slowly looked at him. Michael looked at her as well.

"Me neither." He said. They desperately reached for each other and kissed passionately. "So…" Michael said between kisses. "Does this mean we're back together?" He asked, his mind going back to what happened at Christmas.

"Mmhmm." She murmured.

"Good, cause I missed you."

"I missed you too." She replied. Michael's lips left hers as he hungrily kissed her neck. "Michael," Maria said softly. "I _really _missed you." She said. Michael stopped and looked up at her. Their eyes locking, as if reading each other's thoughts.

"……We could go back to my place." He said. He stopped. "But we should probably wait for Sierra to get back…To make sure she's all right."

"Right." Maria said. "You're absolutely right." She said. She looked at him. "We should probably go back inside." She said. Michael nodded. The two slowly clasped hands and walked back to the house together. They walked in and sat on the couch together. Everyone picked up on their close proximity.

"Looks like they're back together." Isabel murmured to Kyle who was sitting beside her on the loveseat.

"Again." Kyle replied. About a half hour later, the door opened and Sierra slowly walked in, everyone's eyes were on her. Michael stood up and went to her.

"Where did you go?" He asked.

"I…….I just went for a walk." She said softly. "I'm sorry I yelled at everyone." She slowly looked over at Maria. She sighed and walked over, sitting down next to her. "I'm sorry I hit you." She said. "I just……..Got so upset and……." Her voice trailed off. Maria sighed and placed a hand on the girl's cheek.

"It's okay. I shouldn't have attacked you like that." She hugged Sierra.

"I promise, I'll tell you the truth………Just not right now, okay?" Sierra pleaded. Maria nodded.

"Okay." She said. She wished Sierra would just get it over with and spill the beans, but she didn't want to push the girl. Now that her anger from before had subsided, Maria again understood that Sierra had gone through hell, and was most likely still in the grips of it. The two of them pulled apart from the hug. Michael watched the two of them and gave an internal sigh of relief.

"Well, now that Sierra's back safe and sound, how about we all see about getting some shut eye?" Jim said, assuming the fatherly role amongst the group even though only one was his actual off spring. Kyle offered his room to the females. Isabel, Liz and Maria all agreed that since Sierra had suffered the damage to her back at the hands of Travis earlier, she would take Kyle's bed while they slept on the floor. Jim slept in his own room and Max, Michael and Kyle slept in the living room. Within an hour, everyone was sleeping peacefully, well, almost everyone. A quiet rustling awoke Sierra. She carefully opened one eye to see Maria slowly getting up and quietly open the door as she crept out into the living room. Sierra pulled off the covers and tip-toed to the door and looked out to see what was going on. Maria slowly past Max who was sleeping on the couch, and Kyle who was scrunched up on the loveseat. She finally came to Michael who was sprawled out, sitting on the easy chair, his head back, snoring softly. She smiled gently, remembering how cute he looked while he slept. She walked over to him and shook his shoulder gently. She got down close to his ear and gently blew in it, trying to wake him. Michael groaned and shook his head, waking up. He looked up.

"Mari-" He began. Maria covered his mouth.

"Shh." She whispered, putting the index finger of her other mouth against her lips in a "shh" motion. Michael blinked and sat up. He saw Kyle and Max were still sleeping. He looked at Maria, his confused expression still present.

"What's going on?" He whispered. Maria smiled. She leaned over and captured his lips in a tender kiss. Michael slowly reached up and buried one of his hands in her golden hair. Sierra's eyes widened slightly. _Whoa…When did they get back together? _She wondered. She continued watching as the kiss ended and some whispered words were exchanged between the two. Then, Maria took Michael's hand in hers as he stood up and the two quietly left the Valenti home. Sierra shut the door and stepped over Isabel and Liz, making her way to the window. She saw Michael and Maria walking together, hand in hand, in what looked like the direction of Michael's apartment. Sierra smirked gently to herself before crawling back into Kyle's bed.

-

Maria and Michael kissed hungrily as they backed into his apartment, hands roaming each other's body. Michael backed Maria towards his room where she gently fell backwards onto his bed, bringing him down on top of her. Their clothes were soon thrown onto the floor as they slowly rediscovered one another.


	12. Breakfast

Michael and Maria laid in Michael's bed in post-coital daze, staring up at the ceiling.

"Okay, that was………" Maria breathed out. "I _really _missed that." She said. Michael nodded.

"Ditto." He said. Maria blinked and looked over at Michael. She slowly turned so that her arm and her chest rested on his torso. She bent her head down and slowly kissed his chest. Michael reached down with one of his hands and ran his fingers through her hair. He gently pulled her up from her spot on his chest and brought her up to where he lay. He kissed her softly. "I love you." He whispered against her lips. Maria gently stroked his cheek.

"Same here, Spaceboy." She grinned. Maria settled back down beside him, putting her arm across his chest and resting her head against his shoulder. Michael slid his arm underneath her. Maria sighed happily as she felt his hand gently graze her back.

"We should probably go back to Valenti's house, so no one worries about us." Michael said after a while. Maria pouted as a dissatisfied little whimper came out.

"I really have no intention of moving." She said. Michael smiled. He kissed her forehead. He turned towards his nightstand to see the neon lights of his clock read "3:45am".

"Well, we can stay here for another few hours." Michael said, figuring no one would be awake before 7am.

"Good, that gives us plenty of time." Maria stated.

"For?" Michael asked. Maria looked up at him and gave a wicked grin.

"To make up for lost time." She said, giggling softly. Michael couldn't help chuckle. Maria sat up and threw her leg over Michael's waist, straddling his hips. "Ready for round two?" She asked in a sultry tone.

-

Sierra awoke to the smell of coffee, eggs, pancakesand bacon. She sat up and looked around the room. Isabel and Liz were still sound asleep. Sierra got out of bed and stretched a bit. She slowly walked out of Kyle's room and followed the aroma to the kitchen where Jim stood by the stove. He looked up and gave a friendly smile.

"Good morning." He said in a low voice, careful to not awake Kyle and Max who were still sleeping in the living room. Sierra gave him a nod. She walked over to him.

"I guess Michael and Maria aren't back yet." Sierra mused. Jim looked at her. "I sort of saw them leave together last night." She said. Jim made a face that said 'I don't want to know.'

"I see." He said. Sierra smiled gently. He slowly pulled some plates out of the cabinet and set them on the table. Sierra watched him carefully.

"You're still wondering about what I said, aren't you?" She asked. Jim looked at her. "The first day I was here, at the Crashdown. When I called you Grandpa, you're wondering about that, aren't you?" She asked. Jim let out a deep breath.

"A little." He admitted. "I mean, if Kyle's not your father, how is it possible?" He asked. Sierra gave a soft smile.

"We're not related biologically." She informed him. Sierra sat down at the table. Jim joined her. Sierra looked down for a second, thinking what to say, careful not to reveal the future. "When I was little, I used to be jealous of Alex…..Isabel and Jesse's son." She said. "I mean, he had Mr. and Mrs. Evans and Jesse's mother for grandparents. Me? I had nothing. You were always so protective and caring of my dad and everyone, like a parent. You were so warm and caring to everyone. On Christmas and birthdays you'd spoil me and Alex to death. I thought that was what made a grandparent, so one day when I was…….five I think….I just called you Grandpa and it stuck." She said.

"Was I a good 'Grandpa'?" He asked. Sierra reached over and took one of his hands in hers.

"The best." She said. Jim noticed tears began to collect in her eyes. He gently rubbed her hand. Sierra blinked and a few droplets began to slide from her eyes. She pulled one of her hands away and rubbed her eyes, wiping away the tears. Jim released her remaining hand and gave her a warm smile.

"So, how about some breakfast?" He offered. Sierra laughed softly.

"Sounds good." She said.

"Great." Jim said. He got up and took one of the plates and began serving her some pancakes, eggs and bacon. He set the plate in front of her and handed her a fork. Sierra stared at the meal as if she was in the presence of some powerful deity. Jim figured she hadn't eaten a whole lot back in her time towards the end and would welcome any kind of food. She grabbed the bottle of syrup and poured a good amount on the pancakes and eggs. She looked up at Jim.

"You wouldn't happen to have green peppers would you?" She asked. Jim was slightly taken aback, before he remembered the whole sweet and spicy thing.

"I've got jalapeños, would that work?" He asked. Sierra's eyes lit up like a Christmas tree.

"That would work even better." She smiled. Jim laughed and brought the jar out from the refrigerator. Sierra used her unused knife to pull out a large amount of jalapeños and set them on the side of her plate. Once she was done she took her knife and fork and cut them up. Then mixed them in with the eggs. Jim just sat there and watched her. Isabel then walked into the kitchen.

"Mmm, something smells good." She said. Jim took the hint and put some food on her plate. Isabel took a seat next to Sierra. She looked at her plate, seeing the jalapeños and syrup covered eggs. "How's that?" She asked, curious. Sierra slid her plate over.

"Try a bite." She offered. Isabel took a bite of the eggs. Her eyes drifted shut.

"Oh my god." She said her mouth still full of food. "It's delicious." Sierra smiled. She slid the syrup and jar of jalapeños to her. After a while, Kyle, Liz and Max joined them. The minute Max came by, Isabel grabbed his arm "Max, you have **got** to try this." She said. She shoved a forkful of the eggs in his mouth. Max was a little surprised at first, then paused.

"Wow, this is good. What is it?" He asked.

"Eggs with syrup and cut up jalapeños." Sierra smiled. Max soon was eating the same thing. "I'm surprised you guys haven't had this yet." Sierra said. "Dad would make this for me all the time when I was little." She said.

"Well, not many people trust Michael's culinary endeavors." Isabel pointed out.

"And what exactly is so bad about my cooking?" Came a voice. They all turned to see Michael and Maria walk in the front door. They took seats next to the others. Jim gave them both plates of food. Michael looked at Sierra. "So, I made you my special syrup, jalapeños eggs before?" He asked as he poured some syrup and jalapeños on his plate.

"Since when did you make this?" Max asked. Michael shrugged.

"Trying to find the perfect breakfast one morning a few weeks ago, sort of stumbled upon it." He said. The four aliens munched on their food, leaving the four humans to watch them, yet again left stunned by their eating habits.


	13. Annie

After breakfast, everyone sat around the Valenti living room.

"So, what fun adventures are set up for today?" Kyle asked. "Another face off with your ex-boyfriend?" He asked, looking at Sierra. Sierra smirked, knowing he meant it in jest.

"Thought about it, but I figured we could all use a break today." Sierra shot back giving him a sweet smile. Kyle chuckled. Maria cast a look at Sierra. She was still wearing her torn jeans and the shirt Kyle gave her.

"I have an idea." Maria said. Everyone looked at her. "We take Sierra shopping."

"Huh?" Max said.

"Maria, I really don't think now is the time-" Isabel began.

"It's probable that she's going to be here for a while, do you really want her walking down the street looking like she just did several rounds with a lawnmower?" Maria asked. She looked at Sierra. "No offense, babe." She said. Sierra shrugged.

"None taken." Sierra said. Maria glanced at the guys and saw them looking like they'd rather face Travis then go shopping.

"Liz, Isabel and I will take her shopping." Maria said, deciding to spare the men from torture.

"We will?" Isabel asked, intrigued.

"We will?" Liz asked, looking like she'd rather not.

"Yeah, it'll be fun. A girls' day out." Maria said with a smile.

"And what are we," Michael said, indicating himself, Max, Kyle and Jim, "supposed to do while you ladies are at the mall shopping and gossiping?"

"Guy stuff?" Maria asked, getting to her feet. "I'm sure there's some football game or something on TV for you guys to occupy yourselves with." Maria turned to the other three girls. "Let's go." She said. Isabel got up, looking forward to a few hours of mindless shopping followed by Sierra who looked like she was just going wherever she was told to go and then Liz got up hesitantly. The four of them left, led by Maria, leaving the men. Jim looked at them.

"So……….." He said. "What do you guys want to do?" He asked.

"I think ESPN's got sports highlights from last night's hockey game." Michael offered.

"Sounds good." Max said. The four of them settled onto the couch and turned on the TV.

Maria and Sierra found themselves alone in one of the stores in the mall. Liz had been displaying her dislike for the whole shopping thing rather blatantly-dragging her feet a bit here and there-So Isabel took her by the arm and told Maria and Sierra she wanted to get something for Jesse for when he came home from his business trip and wanted Liz to help her. They agreed to meet up at the food court in two hours.

"So, what sort of clothes do you usually wear?" Maria asked as she looked through a jack of shirts. Sierra shrugged.

"Comfortable clothes, you know jeans, shirts, sneakers, very minimalist." Sierra said. Maria turned her head and looked at her.

"Goodness, you _are _Michael's child." She joked. Sierra laughed.

"Speaking of him," Sierra said. "I see you two got back together." Sierra smirked. Maria looked at her. "I saw you two leave last night." Maria blushed.

"Oh, we just went out for…coffee…….to talk…" Maria stammered. Sierra gave her a knowing look.

"Yeah, right, coffee." Sierra said, rolling her eyes. Maria looked at her.

"I'm sorry………It's just a little weird talking to you about this. I mean you're going to be his daughter." Maria said in a hushed voice. Maria went back to looking at shirts. Thinking about the fact that Sierra was Michael's daughter brought on a painful pang to Maria's heart because that meant that she and Michael weren't going to be together forever and there was going to be someone else Michael was going to marry. Sierra looked down for a second, sensing what was going on in Maria's mind. She sighed and looked at some shirts. After a while Maria led Sierra to the dressing rooms with a handful of shirts, jeans and skirts-which Sierra didn't even want to look at, but Maria had insisted-Sierra stood in the dressing room trying on clothes while Maria waited outside for Sierra to come out and show her how the clothes fit. After showing Maria all the clothes, they paid for the clothes and went to meet Liz and Isabel at the food court. The four of them ate and then headed to the parking lot to Maria's car. They placed the three shopping bags filled with Sierra's new clothes in the trunk and got in the car, driving back to the Valenti house.

Later that day, the others were inside enjoying dinner while Sierra sat on Jim's porch staring at the setting sun. Her eyes drifted shut as memories flooded her head.

**_Bullets and lasers filled the air as another battle in the on going war ensued. Sierra held up her gun, shooting the enemy along side Annie. _**

"_**There's too many of them!" Annie yelled over the ruckus.**_

"_**There's no such thing as 'too many'." Sierra said softly. "Just keep firing!" She yelled out. **_

"**_NGHHHAghhhhhhh!" Came a loud bellow. Sierra turned to see a horrid sight-Her father, disarmed, clutching his bleeding shoulder as he stumbled into a cave followed by one of THEM. _**

"**_Dad.." Sierra said. She got up; ready to exit the ditch she and Annie had been in. Annie shot her a look._**

"_**Sie, what…….Where are you going?" **_

"_**I've got to help him!" Sierra screamed. She climbed out and stared running to a cave. Annie stared at her retreating friend who was running blindly, not even caring that she was barely missing oncoming shots. Annie shoved another round of ammunition in her gun and ran after her. Sierra dodged as a shot nearly missed her leg. She looked up to see one of them, holding his gun, ready to fire, only to get shot and fall back. Sierra turned to see Annie. **_

"_**We need to get back." She said. Sierra shook her head.**_

"**_My dad's in trouble, I've got to help!" Sierra ran to the cave. Annie groaned and followed. The two of them ran into the cave. They ran deep into it and saw Michael slumped in a sitting position at the cave wall, holding his shoulder. "Dad!" Sierra ran to him. She kneeled by her side. Michael looked at her._**

"_**Sierra…….What are you doing here?"**_

"_**I saw you come in here." She said. She placed a hand on his. "You're hurt."**_

"_**You abandoned your post." Michael said. "You're supposed to stay there."**_

"**_Yeah well, when my dad's shoulder's bleeding and he's being chased by the enemy, I forget the rules." Sierra said. "Come on, we've got to get out of here." She said. She stood up and pulled her father up. "Annie, give me a hand-" She looked up just in time to see the enemy shoot a round off in Annie's chest.. Sierra's breath caught in her throat. The man looked up and smirked. He aimed his weapon at her and Michael. Sierra released Michael and hoisted up her weapon. She let out a feral scream as she began firing, hitting the man in the head. It exploded into brain matter and blood as he fell down, but Sierra didn't stop, she stood over him and kept firing._**

"_**Sie……" Came a choked voice. "I think he's dead." Sierra turned around to see Annie on her back, twitching slightly, blood pouring out of her chest and mouth. Sierra dropped her weapon and ran to her side. **_

"_**Annie, oh god." Sierra gasped as tears filled her eyes. She pulled Annie in her arms. "Come on, we've got to get you to the med center…..We……We got to-" Annie clutched Sierra's hand, cutting her off.**_

"_**I…….I can't move, Sie…….Are you there? I can't see you…."**_

"**_I'm right here, Ann, come on, you can't do this, okay? Stay with me. Stay with me!" In the distance she could hear her father ordering for the med mobile unit to come help over his walkie talkie, but his words were static. Annie coughed as more blood seeped out the corner of her mouth. _**

"_**T-t-tell my parents that I love them…" Annie whispered.**_

"_**You're going to tell them yourself, you're not dying on me. Do you hear me? You're not!"**_

"_**Sie………You've been the greatest friend I………I've ever had…"**_

"_**Stop it! Stop it! You're not going to die! You're not!" Sierra felt Annie's grip on her hand loosen. She looked up at her face and watched it limply fall to the side, her eyes wide open. "No….." Sierra whimpered. "No.." Sierra held Annie closer to her chest. She could feel Annie's blood seeping into her shirt, but she didn't care. She held her close, burying her face in Annie's hair. "No." She sobbed.**_

"Sierra?" A voice and a hand on her shoulder jolted Sierra out of her memory. She looked over and saw Michael sitting beside her. "Are you okay?" He asked. Sierra then realized that she had started crying. She let out a soft sob and threw her arms around Michael's neck, burying her face in his shoulder as she sobbed. Michael put his arms around her, holding her, figuring she must've flashbacked to something painful.


	14. Long Lost Cousin from Tucson

Michael gently rubbed Sierra's back. After a while, she pulled away and wiped at her eyes.

"Sorry." She said softly.

"It's okay." Michael said. "You want to talk about it?" He asked.

"Remember that girl I told you about? She was my best friend, her name was Annie."

"Yeah." Michael said, vaguely remembering her mention something about her. Sierra sighed.

"I was just thinking about her……….About how she died." She said softly. "She died in my arms."

"How….How did she die?" Michael asked. Sierra sighed and looked at him. She told him the story of that day-how she disobeyed orders in order to protect him, how Annie was shot right before their eyes, how she held Annie, begging her to stay as she slowly died. Michael watched her as she told the story. Her eyes remained downcast and her chin quivered every so often as she tried to hold in her sobs.

"After that, I was given a dishonorable discharge." Sierra said, ending her story. "Failure to obey orders resulting in death of fellow soldier."

"But you didn't know she was going to get killed. You were worried about me."

"Somehow they didn't seem to care. I mean, a commanding officer, not to mention my father, was in trouble how was I supposed to just stay at my post?" Sierra sighed. "But that's not the issue. I mean, I remember Annie's parents being there at my hearing……..I felt terrible." Sierra looked down. Michael looked at her for a second.

"Sierra, how did everyone die?" He finally asked. Sierra looked at him.

"What?" She asked.

"How did we die?" He repeated. Sierra gave him a hard look and quickly stood up, walking to the edge of the porch.

"How can you even ask me that?" She demanded. "Why would you want to know?"

"Because it happened." Michael replied. Sierra shook her head.

"No, not if I can help it. I'm not going to let my future repeat itself. I just need to stop it. I just need to stop Travis…"

"But how? Present Travis is alive, on Antar; probably listening to all of mommy dearest's little lies."

"Well if you guys stopped trying to dwell on the past-sorry, _my _past-maybe I could think of something." Sierra muttered. Michael sighed and sat back. The two were silent for a while. "Kyle's wife." She finally said.

"What?" Michael asked.

"Kyle's wife was the first one to die, after Annie, that is." Sierra said. "Some…..certain individuals from her past teamed up with Tess and the Skins to get revenge on her. So they killed her." Sierra stared off to the distance as she remembered.

_**There was a knock on the door.**_

"**_Sierra, get the door." Sierra heard her father call out from his room. It had been two weeks since Annie died and Michael was on bed rest, recovering. Sierra's mom had begrudenly taken on the role of the doting wife but Sierra knew that deep down, as much as she hated bringing him his meals in bed and fluffing his pillow, she was glad he was home and not on the battlefield._**

"_**All right." Sierra responded. Sierra shuffled to the front door as the knocking continued, getting urgent. "I'm coming!" Sierra called out, annoyed. She opened the door. "What do you-" She stopped as she saw who was at the door. Kyle, drenched from the pouring rain, with HER in his arms. Sierra's eyes widened. "Kyle, what-" He didn't let her finish as he stepped past her. Sierra ran to her parents' room where her mother was sitting beside him in bed.**_

"_**Who was it, honey?" Her mother asked.**_

"_**It's Kyle, I……….Something happened……She….." Sierra stammered, feeling flustered. Her mother dawned a confused expression. Before anyone could say a word, Michael climbed out of bed and went to the living room with his wife and daughter on his heels. The adults stopped sort at what was before them. Kyle had laid her on the couch, he was kneeling beside her. **_

"**_Kyle.." Sierra's mother gasped, going to his side. Michael looked at Sierra. _**

"_**Call the others." He said. Sierra nodded and went to the phone. A short while later, everyone was gathered in the living room as Max held his hand over her body. Kyle sat not to far off, watching him and chewing on his thumb nervously. Max panted and strained as he tried to heal her, but nothing seemed to be working.**_

"_**Why isn't it working?" Kyle asked. Max looked up at him.**_

"_**I'm sorry, she's-" Kyle stood up from his perch, shaking his head. **_

"_**No, no. You have to fix her." Kyle growled. Max tried to get up but he was weak from trying to heal her. **_

"_**I can't, I-"**_

"_**She's my wife! You can't let her die!" **_

"_**Kyle," Liz said, going over to him. She tried to put a comforting hand on his shoulder but he slapped it away.**_

"_**THEY did this. You know that, don't you? Don't for a second think this was some sort of caught in the crossfire bullshit accident. And I'm going to make sure they don't live long enough to regret touching her."**_

"_**Kyle, you can't-" Jesse began. Kyle turned to him.**_

"_**Don't tell me you wouldn't to the same if it was Isabel lying there." Kyle snapped. His eyes slid to Isabel, who was standing by her husband, then spanned over Max and Michael. "If it was your wives…..But it wasn't. It was my wife. And they are going to be sorry."**_

"After that, Kyle ran out of the house." Sierra said. "His body was found just in time for her funeral. They were buried together." Sierra blinked back her tears. "Then it was you and mom. Travis snuck into your room one night and killed you both in your sleep. A few days later, he killed Alex. After your, mom's and Alex's funeral service, Isabel, Jesse and Liz drove home together while Max stayed with me at the cemetery." Sierra paused. "Apparently the skins had gone to more primitive tactics and resorted to bombing stuff. They put a bomb in Jesse's car. Isabel and Jesse were DOA, but Liz survived. She lost the baby though, and she was in a coma for almost a week."

"Baby?" Michael asked.

"Yeah, she was pregnant with Max's child. There first one. After being together for so long they were going to have a baby. After you and mom died, I was living with Max and Liz. One day………" Sierra blinked.

"**_Liz?" Sierra asked through the bathroom door. "Liz?" She repeated. There was no reply. Sierra knocked on the door and it creaked open gently. Sierra's eyes grew as she saw Liz lying in the tub._**

"She gave up." Sierra said. "Took a razor blade and gave up."

"No. Liz wouldn't do that." Michael said.

"Why not? Her baby was dead; most of those she cared about were dead."

"But she still had Max."

"Who, like the rest of us, had become jaded and hollow because of everything that happened. " Sierra said. "After Liz died, it all came crashing down on Max. He started saying stuff about having to fix the past to protect the future and talked about the granolith and everything. He was supposed to come back to before Tess left for Antar or something and tell someone……..I'm not quite sure of the details. We were on our way to the granolith when we ran into Tess. She killed him, I killed her." She sated mater of factly. "After I buried Max with the rest of you guys, I set off to finish what Max started."

"So, what are you going to do?" Michael asked. "How do you want to finish this?" Sierra turned to face him.

"I don't know." She replied honestly. She sighed and sat down beside him again. She became very pensive for a moment, and then sat up straight, as if she just remembered something. "When The Skins started using the granolith as sort of the commuter bus between here and there, our side went in and destroyed the granolith. It didn't stop the hordes of them already here, but it kept more from coming in."

"How'd you get in?" Michael asked. "I mean, they had the granolith, so how in the world did we get on Antar?" A slow smile crept to Sierra's face as she jumped to her feet and ran inside the house. "Sierra?" Michael asked, he got up and followed. Sierra walked into the living room where the others were sitting. Michael went and sat beside Maria on the couch.

"I've got something." Sierra announced. The others looked at her blankly.

"I sure hope it isn't contagious." Kyle muttered. Sierra gave him a smirk and then looked back at the others.

"I might have an idea to help out the situation."

"Mind sharing?" Max asked.

"I don't want to say anything in case it jinxes everything. All I can say is, anyone up for a little road trip?" Sierra asked.

Later that night, the others left, agreeing to meet up the next morning to leave. Maria said she'd stay with Michael, everyone pretty much knew why, Max stayed with Liz at her house, The Valenti's in their on place, and Sierra went home with Isabel. When they got there, Isabel was surprised to see Jesse sitting on the couch. He looked up and smiled.

"Jesse." Isabel said, still a little surprised. "What are you…." Jesse cut her off as he got up and gave her a quick kiss on the lips. Isabel gave him a smile. "I thought you had to be away for a few more days." She said.

"We were able to get the business wrapped up last night, so I hoped on a plane and came home to my beautiful wife as soon as I could, which was this afternoon, unfortunately." Jesse said. He put his arms around his wife and went to kiss her passionately when he realized they weren't alone. Sierra stood back and gave him a smile. "Oh, sorry." Jesse said. He stepped back away from Isabel.

"Oh, uh, Jesse, this is uh……..Michael's…" Isabel stammered trying to think of an explanation.

"Cousin." Sierra cut in. Isabel sent her a secretive thankful look. She stepped in and shook Jesse's hand. "I'm Michael's cousin, Sierra."

"Oh, it's nice to meet you." Jesse said. "You know, Michael's never mentioned having a cousin, or any family for that matter." Jesse said.

"Well, honey, you know how Michael is, he doesn't exactly divulge personal information." Isabel said. Sierra gave a soft smile.

"It's all right Isabel." She said. She turned to Jesse. "Isabel's sparing me the tedious job of explaining what's going on." She said. Isabel gave her a look as if to say 'what are you doing'? "See," Sierra said, giving a chuckle. "It sounds like some sob story from some pathetic talk show." She said. "We're long lost cousins." Sierra said. Isabel almost sighed with relief. "Michael's been looking for some family and he found me and my parents all the way in Tucson and we were just so beyond happy that he contacted us we were just about ready to hop on the next bus to Roswell. Unfortunately, a few days before we decided to come up here, dad had a bit of an accident at the construction site he works on. Hurt his leg real bad. Mom decided she'd stay and make sure he was all right and said I could go find my cousin in New Mexico. So," she said, extending her arms to the side as if putting herself on display. "Here I am." She said.

"Wow, that's quite a story." Jesse said.

"Yeah, it is." Isabel muttered. She blinked and looked at Jesse. "Well, you know, since Michael has that little apartment and he has Max there, I suggested Sierra stay with us. If that's all right with you, of course." Isabel said.

"Of course it's all right." Jesse said with a smile. "Michael's family. And any family of his is welcomed here." He said.

"How nice of you." Sierra said. "Of course, kind and generous is the Jesse Ramirez I know." She said without thinking. Jesse gave her an odd look. Sierra blanched for a second before grabbing Isabel by the arm. "Well, this woman has talked about you so much, it's might as well be that I do know you." She said, giving a wide smile. "Every other word out of her mouth was some praise or tidbit of information about her dashing lawyer husband." She said. Jesse looked at Isabel.

"Dashing?" He asked. Isabel smiled and nodded quickly. Jesse grinned. "Well, I mean, maybe a little." He said. Isabel and Sierra could practically see his ego growing a little bit. "Well, I should be off to bed." He said, looking at Isabel. "You're dashing lawyer husband has a meeting with your father and some of the others at the office tomorrow morning." He said, as he went to his and Isabel's room.

"By the way," Sierra said, "I hope this isn't adding on to the imposition I'm placing by staying here, but well, mom and dad so wanted to see Michael, and I figured, going along with your logic, that Isabel, Max and the others are like Michael's family so I'm sure they'd want to meet Michael's second family as well. So, I suggested that we all sort of take a bit of a road trip tomorrow to Tucson."

"Oh." Jesse said. Isabel looked at him.

"Michael might need us." She said. "I mean, meeting his real family after all these years-" Jesse held up a hand.

"Say no more. I understand. I only wish I could come along." He said. He gave her a kiss on the cheek. "I'll be in bed." He said, as he left. Isabel waited a few minutes after she saw the light in the room go off from the creak of the door. She turned to Sierra.

"Long lost cousin from Tucson?" Isabel asked. Sierra laughed.

"I figure the believability is all in the details. If you overload on the details people have no choice but to believe you."

"Uh huh." Isabel said. "Max, Michael and I have had to do our own fair share of lying in our lives, but I've got to say, that was masterful." Sierra laughed.


	15. Road Trip

The next morning, everyone gathered at the Valenti house.

"So, mind telling us where it is we're going?" Kyle asked, tiredly rubbing his eyes.

"Denver, Colorado." Sierra replied.

"And what's there?" Liz asked.

"An old friend of yours." Sierra said.

"Care to be just a little bit more vague?" Isabel asked. Sierra chuckled softly.

"Come on, let's go." She said. They all piled in a minivan Sierra had told Jim to rent the day earlier with Jim getting behind the wheel and Sierra in the passenger seat. The car had two rows of seats in the back, the second one being a bit bigger then the first. Max and Liz sat comfortably in the first row with Michael, Maria, Isabel and Kyle in the second. "Anyone need to use the potty before we go?" Sierra asked in jest, treating the others like a bunch of little kids.

"Ha ha, very funny." Michael said. Sierra laughed. Jim sighed and shook his head as he drove off. The others dozed in and out of sleep during the long drive as Jim and Sierra stayed wide awake.

"If you want to take a nap or something, I don't mind." Jim said, figuring she was staying awake so he wouldn't feel lonely or anything. Sierra looked at him.

"I'm all right." She told him, but was cut off as she yawned slightly. Jim smirked. Sierra rolled her eyes. "All right, wake me up when we get to Denver." She told him. Jim nodded and Sierra settled into the seat, resting her head against the window as her eyes drifted shut.

**_Sierra watched silently as the two caskets were lowered into the graves next to each other. She blinked and looked around, observing the others. Her mother and father sat together, clutching each other's hands, as did Max and Liz and Isabel and Jesse. She could tell what was on their minds-what if it had been us?-Sierra sighed and looked over to see Alex standing not to far from her dressed in civilian attire that consisted of a black pair of slacks and a black button down shirt. Sierra stood up from her seat, adjusting her black dress, and walked over to him. He met her eyes as she approached. _**

"_**Hey." She said softly. She couldn't think of anything else to say. He didn't respond, his eyes trained on the caskets. **_

"_**You should have called me." He said softly. "When Kyle came to your house. You should've called me."**_

"_**I'm sorry." She said. Alex turned to her.**_

"_**Do you know how sick it was to hear about this just when I got the telegram from my mom telling me to come to the funeral? They were like my aunt and uncle, Sie."**_

"_**They were the same for me." Sierra said, feeling a little defensive. "We both grew up with them in our lives. Don't tell me you were closer to them then I was."**_

"_**Well obviously you felt like I didn't need to find out, so you felt I wasn't as-"**_

"_**Don't blame me." She snapped at him yet keeping her voice low so as not to disturb the other mourners. "There were six other people in the room that night. Anyone of them could have called you up and told you. Why don't you ask why your parents didn't call you instead of making me the bad guy?" She asked. She didn't give him time to respond before she walked over and sat by Jim who was crying. "Grandpa?" She said softly, putting her hand on his shoulder. **_

"_**No father should have to bury his son." He muttered softly. Sierra closed her eyes and pulled him into a hug. Jim held her close to him as he sobbed.**_

"Sierra….Sierra…" Came a distant voice. Sierra opened her eyes and saw Jim slightly shaking her. She blinked and sat up. "We're here." He said. Sierra turned around in her seat, her eyes scanning the back of the van. She saw Kyle sitting in his seat, staring out the window. She nearly let out a relieved sigh. It was just a dream/memory. She was still in the past. She turned back forward and saw that they were in the main town section of Denver, parked by the post office.

"All right, I'm going to go ask for directions." She said, climbing out of the car and walking into the post office. The others stayed in the car, waiting for her to come back.

"So, does anyone have any guesses who this old friend of ours were going to be seeing is?" Maria asked everyone. They all responded with shrugs. A few minutes later, Sierra came out of the post office with a tall man, the others saw it was a mailman.

"You just go down the road and take a left at the fork and go straight for a few mails, can't miss it." He said. Sierra gave him a smile.

"Thank you." She said. The man nodded at walked off. Sierra went and got back in the car.

"Where to?" Jim asked. Sierra relayed the directions and Jim took off. A short while later Sierra looked up.

"Here it is, stop." She said. Jim pulled over. They all looked up and saw a small café with a flickering neon sign that read _Agggie's Place. _

"Ah, good, we all were starting to get hungry." Kyle said, figuring they were stopping for a bite to eat before they continued on their journey. Everyone got out of the car and walked into the café. A middle aged woman wearing a blue and white waitress' uniform greated them.

"Table for eight?" She asked. Sierra nodded. She grabbed some menus and let them all to a large booth at the back. They all sat down as she handed them their menus. "Enjoy your lunch, your waitress will be here in a second." She said as she went to leave.

"Excuse me?" Sierra called after her, the woman stopped and walked back over.

"Yes?" She asked. Sierra gave her a warm smile.

"I was just wondering is Zana working today?" She asked.

"You friends of Zana?" The woman asked, looking at them all. The others had blank faces, unsure who this person was but Sierra answered for them.

"Yeah." Sierra said. The woman gave a small smile.

"I didn't think the little lamb had any friends." She said. "She's so quiet, keeps to herself a lot."

"That's our Zana, quiet as a church mouse." Sierra said, laughing with the woman.

"Well, she's on her break right now, but I'll tell her to come over here." The woman said.

"Thanks." Sierra said. The woman nodded and walked off to the kitchen. The others all stared at Sierra.

"Who's Zana?" Max asked. "Is she someone we meet in the future?"

"You could say that." Sierra said. A young blonde girl in a waitress uniform matching the woman's came by and brought them some coffee. "What can I get you folks?" She asked. Kyle was about to order some food when Sierra answered.

"We're actually here to meet a friend, can you give us a few more minutes?" She asked. The girl nodded and walked off.

"Hey, I'm hungry." Kyle said, the others nodded in agreement. Sierra rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"Just hang on, will you?" She said. A few minutes later, the door leading to the kitchen opened as a girl with dyed red hair in a bobbed cut with a black bandana tied around her head came out, wearing the same blue and white uniform. Liz, who had just taken a sip of her coffee, nearly choked at the sight of her.

"Liz, you all right?" Maria asked. She followed her friends gaze and gasped. "Oh my god." She whispered.

"What?" Michael asked. He turned around to see what they were looking at, along with Isabel, Max, Kyle and Jim. Sierra also turned but didn't dawn the shocked expressions the others did.

"Is that….?" Isabel began, stunned. The girl's eyes fell on them and she stopped where she stood, her face pale with astonishment.

"It is…." Jim said.

"Tess." Max said, his tone low with hatred.


	16. The Plan

Author note: I've noticed that no one has really been reviewing this. It kind of hurts because to me, when the reviews stop, it means that no one's reading it anymore. I don't mean to sound like a review whore, but really, that's the only way I can know if there's still interest in the story. I would greatly like to continue writing this, but if no one's reading then it's just a waste of time and space on this website. So, here's the deal, after I put up this chapter, I'm not touching the story for two weeks. If by that time, I haven't gotten any reviews, then I'm going to stop writing. Does that sound fair? Well, now that that's out in the open, on with the story

Max's eyes narrowed into thin slits. Sierra, anticipating some sort of action on his part, put a hand on his arm.

"Max." She said softly. "Don't do anything."

"You brought us to Tess?" Isabel hissed. "So, we were right in the beginning, huh? You've just been spouting lies to us this whole time. You're one of the Skins." Michael stared at Sierra, unable to believe what Isabel was saying. He had felt a real connection with Sierra, how could this all be a lie? Sierra sighed.

"A) I am so not one of the skins. B) I have not been spouting lies since the very beginning. And most importantly, C) I didn't bring you to _Tess._"

"Well, you brought us to see an 'old friend of ours' and there's Tess. What are we supposed to think?" Kyle said.

"I never said she was an old friend of _yours,_ now did I?" Sierra said. She looked over at Liz. "I said she was an old friend of _yours._"

"I don't understand." Liz said. Sierra looked at each and every one of them.

"My god, you guys are clueless." She said, rolling her eyes. "Let's review the hints, shall we? A girl who looks exactly like Tess appears when I asked for someone by the name of Zana. I said she was an old friend of Liz's. Now, based on the little love triangle that went on between Liz, Max and Tess, obviously I didn't think Tess and Liz were chums. So, any guesses who that woman is?" She didn't wait for them to respond. "It's Ava, you dummies." She said. "Ava, as in the Tess look-a-like, showed up in Roswell……What? Like a year ago with a guy and a girl who looked a whole lot like Isabel and Michael who went by the names of Rath and Lonnie."

"Oh my god…." Liz said, she turned and looked at the girl. She was surprised she hadn't seen it before-She had the same lost and pained look in her eyes that Ava had when she had stayed with her.

"Now, seeing as out of us all, you're the one she's had the most face time with, I suggest you go over there and say something to her." Sierra said to Liz. Liz slowly got up from her seat. Max stopped her.

"I don't like this." He said.

"She'll be in eyesight if you really do believe I'm lying and that's really Tess." Sierra said with a sigh.

"It's okay, Max." Liz said. She got up and walked over to the girl. Her eyes slid to Liz's approaching form and they seemed to loose the whole 'deer in headlights' look. Liz stood before her.

"Hi." Liz said softly, unsure of what else to say.

"Yo." She responded, her voice heavy with the thick New York accent. Liz stuffed her hands in the back pockets of her jeans. "……How'd ya find me?" Ava asked.

"It's a long story." Liz said. "Is there…….Somewhere we can talk, in private?" Liz asked. It was difficult seeing Ava. She had the face of the woman who killed one of her best friends and, according to Sierra, would kill the love of her life in the future. But she wasn't Tess. She was the girl who helped her save Max from Rath and Lonnie when he was in New York. She was an innocent person who had the misfortune of looking exactly like a murderous creature.

"Something otherworldly come up?" Ava asked.

"You could say that." Liz said. Ava's eyes slid over to the others at the table, then back to Liz.

"The whole posse's got to conference, huh?" She asked rhetorically. "Let me ask my boss if I can take off early." She said. Liz nodded. She slowly went back to the table as Ava disappeared in the kitchen.

"Are you okay?" Max asked as soon as Liz sat down. Liz nodded. A few minutes later, Ava returned, pulling a black wool cardigan on as she pulled a set of keys out of her front pocket. She walked over to the others.

"I got a place a few miles from here……Dunno if ya'll can fit in my car……" She said.

"We've got our own wheels." Michael said.

"We'll follow you." Sierra said. Ava looked at Sierra for a moment, then Kyle. She didn't recognize them but figured she could ask later. She simply nodded and walked out of the restaurant with the others following her.

"Wait, so lemme get this straight." Kyle said as they followed Ava's small beat up car. "Doubles of you guys appeared in Roswell and no one told me and my dad?"

"There weren't doubles of all of us." Isabel pointed out. "Just Michael, me and Tess."

"My double's dead." Max chimed in.

"Yeah, my twin told us it was some sort of accident, but actually he and Isabel's twin did the deed, sort of." Michael said.

"And then lured Tess and Max to New York for some sort of meeting or something." Maria said.

"Where they tried to kill Max." Liz said. Kyle stared at everyone, a little wide eyed.

"Suddenly I'm not too bent out of shape about being left in the dark." Kyle said. A few minutes later, they saw Ava stop in front of a shabby looking apartment complex. Jim pulled over. Ava got out of her car and waited for the others to join her. After they were all out, she led them to her apartment. She opened the front door and stepped inside.

"Sorry 'bout the mess." She said as she saw the others step over some clothes and garbage that were strewn about the floor. "Wasn't 'specting company." The apartment was small, furnished with a couch that looked like it had been taken from the city dump, a few chairs and stools, and a mattress in the corner with blankets and a pillow on it. "Have a seat." She said. Kyle, Jim, Liz and Maria sat down on the couch, which emitted a little dust as soon as it took on their weight. "The maid's on vacation." Ava muttered. Michael stood by the side of the couch, next to where Maria sat and Max did the same with Liz's side. Isabel sat down on one of the chairs and Sierra sat on another one. The room was silent for a while. "Where's your friend……Brown haired skinny guy?" She asked, breaking the silence. Liz looked down and then back at Ava.

"He died." She said. Ava pursed her lips, feeling bad for asking.

"Sorry." She said. "………So I'm guessin' my twin's de-"

"Nope, she's the one who killed him." Michael said. Ava's eyes widened a bit. The room was consumed in silence yet again.

"Why Zana?" Liz finally asked. Ava looked at her. She sighed as she sat on one of the stools.

"After I left Roswell, I kind of just went all over the place." She began nervously picking at her short nails. "Went to Phoenix, Salt Lake City, wherever my little thumb and a kind driver could take me. Didn't want to stay in one place for too long 'cause I thought Rath and Lonnie would find me or sumthin'. Then I got to Colorado and got tired of moving, so I got a job. Told 'em my name was Zana cause…."

"Zan and Ava." Sierra said. Sierra said. Ava blinked and looked at her.

"How'd you-"

"You used to tell me about how your life as a traveler in the Southwest was when I was little." Ava gave her a puzzled look.

"Kid, I ain't never met you in my-"

"I know." Sierra said. "But you will in a few years."

"Say what?" Ava asked. Sierra took a deep breath and told her everything-how their lives in the future had basically not gone to well, how she used the Granolith to come to the past and how she was followed by Travis and then finally that she was trying to change the present to fix the future. Ava sat back a bit, taking it all in.

"So…..when you say everyone died…….Does-"

"Rath and Lonnie found out where you were after joining forces with Tess and the skins.." Sierra said. Michael's brow furrowed as he looked over at Sierra. _Wait……Two people joining forces with Tess……Ava's going to be Kyle's wife? _He thought. He shot a look over to Kyle, who was just sitting on the couch between his dad and Liz. His face was expressionless. There was no indication of some sort of attraction or anything. _Nah...Couldn't be…._ Michael thought.

"You mean they.."

"Yeah, they did. Killed your husband too."

"Husband?" Ava asked. Michael looked up at that. _Guess I was wrong…_ He thought.

"So, you're saying Ava came back to Roswell on her own in your world?" Jim asked.

"Yeah." Sierra said. She looked over everyone. "If I remember the whole story correctly, she got tired of running and figured she'd be safe with you guys. She joined the little group and all that."

"So isn't being here interfering with the future? I mean, we're involving her before-" Isabel asked.

"Yeah, and trust me, if there was another way, I'd let time, nature, whatever, run it's natural course. So, yeah, I might have just caused some irreparable damage to the future but I figure it's for a greater cause, that being that you all live to see seventy."

"Well, what are we going to do?" Jim asked.

"Sorry, you and Maria gotta sit this one out." Sierra said.

"Wait, I notice you don't say Liz and I have to sit this one out…..Why don't I like the sound of that?" Kyle asked.

"Don't worry, you guys are all going to be safe." She said. She got up and got in the center of the room, making sure she had everyone's attention. "Max, Michael, Isabel, Ava, Liz and Kyle are going to help me break the Granolith. If the Granolith's messed up, Tess and the skins can't use it as a freeway between the two worlds in the future."

"The granolith can only be used once." Max said. "How are they going to be able to use it?"

"Kivar's got some minions who know how to bypass that little rule. But, if I can get in there and rough it up beyond repair, then-"

"And how exactly are you going to get to Antar?" Michael asked. "We all just toss you in the air?"

"The same way you guys do it in my time." She said. "One night, back in my time, you all went to the cave and using your powers, opened up a pathway between the two worlds. Max and Michael went in and caused some damage."

"So, we go in, bash the hell out of the Granolith, and everything will be fine?"

"Not exactly." Sierra said. "_I _go in, bash the hell out of the Granolith."

"Come again?" Michael said, not liking the idea of Sierra putting herself in danger like that.

"Your powers aren't as evolved as they were in my time. I need you all to stay here and keep the pathway open so I can come back."

"I don't like it." Michael said.

"Wait, I'm confused." Kyle said. "Liz and I don't have powers, we're human." Kyle said. Liz blinked.

"No, Kyle, you're wrong." She said, remembering something.

"What? We're not human?"

"No, no, I mean the powers thing." Liz said. She looked at Ava. "You told me about them……It's how I was able to warn Max…"

"Cliff notes-because of the fact that you and Liz were saved by Max, some of the alien essence, mainly powers, transferred to you guys. Right now they're almost non-existent, but over time, they're going to evolve."

"But if they're non-existent, how much help can we be now?" Liz asked.

"There's a little bit inside of you, and right now we need all the help we can muster up to open up the pathway."

"So, what, we just sit in a circle, sing some kum-by-yahs and a door between space opens up?" Isabel asked.

"Well, yeah, minus the kum-by-yahs." Sierra said with a smirk. "We need to do it at the cave though. The fact that the Granolith was stored there before means that it's got some of the Granolith's."

"So, we head back to Roswell?" Kyle asked.

"Yeah." Sierra said. She looked at Ava. "You okay with that?" She asked. Ava nodded.

"Yeah. Uh, you guys can stay here tonight and we can go back to Roswell tomorrow…..There's not a whole lot of space here, but-" Ava said, her voice trailing off a bit.

"It's fine." Jim said, speaking for the whole group. Everyone else nodded their agreement. Ava got up and went to a closet in the apartment. She grabbed some blankets from the closet for the others to use as makeshift sleeping bags. She handed them to Sierra, who was closest.

"Thanks." Sierra said. Ava nodded.

"Uh, do you guys want me to go pick up some pizza?" She asked. Everyone seemed to like that idea very much so seeing as they were unable to eat at the café. Ava gave a small smile before leaving the house. The others grabbed some of the blankets out of Sierra's hands and began setting up "beds" on the floor. Kyle decided to claim the dusty couch for himself as he stretched out the flimsy material over the couch and settled in. Isabel and Jim set their blankets on the floor as the two couples (Liz and Max, Maria and Michael) set there's by their significant other. Sierra wryly wondered how long into the night it would be before they took use of just one blanket each. Sierra took the remaining blanket and set it on the floor. As she was busy making up her "bed", Michael came over and sat by her.

"So, I'm guessing Ava's Kyle's wife." He said in a low voice, making sure no one else heard. Sierra looked at him.

"You're guessing right." She said. Michael dawned a perplexed expression.

"I don't see it." He said.

"Well, just because the two of them aren't fumbling for the nearest private place to make-out doesn't mean there isn't an attraction." Sierra informed.

"Is that supposed to be a crack on Max and Liz?" He asked. Sierra looked at him and gave a smirk.

"Sure, them too." She said.

"What, don't tell me I told you about my relationship with Maria when you were a kid." He said.

"No, she told me." She said. She smiled softly, reminiscing of how she and Maria would engage in girl talk.

"So, you and Maria were pretty close friends?" He asked.

"Yeah. I guess she inherited the whole 'mom needing to be friends with daughter' thing from Grandma Amy." Sierra said softly. She paused, realizing what she had just said. She looked up at Michael. By the look of surprise on his face, Sierra knew he heard her. Michael looked over at Maria, who was talking with Liz.

"She…" He began, his voice trailing off. He turned back to Sierra. "She's your mother?" Sierra sighed and nodded slowly. Michael blinked, trying to comprehend this. Truth was, when he thought Maria was just some random person in Sierra's life, he was a little disheartened by the fact that Maria and him wouldn't be together forever. But now, it seemed like they were. He couldn't help smile a little at that.

"I…I didn't want to say anything earlier because you and her weren't together so I didn't want that influencing anything." Sierra admitted.

"Does she know?" Michael asked.

"No. I guess I haven't gotten the nerve to tell her yet. How mad do you think she'll get at the fact that you knew I was your daughter before she knew I was hers?" Sierra asked. Michael smirked.

"Good point." He said. At that moment, Ava came in carrying three large boxes of pizza. Kyle nearly knocked her down as he took the boxes from her and set them on the kitchen counter.


	17. Love in the Rain

Author Note: OK guys, in the two week period, I got a lot of reviews and pleas to continue. Sorry I didn't write more after that, had finals, brief summer vacation, came back to school for summer classes, life in general and all that. I told myself to get my ass in gear and write when I got a review, this review stuck out because most of the time, and I'll admit, I do this too, reviews consist of "great, update soon," but this one person was so into this story they sent me a long review begging me to continue. This person said they're not the type to review, so for them to come out of reviewer-troglodyte-ness to leave me a comment meant I just had to continue for you guys, my loyal readers. Anyway, thanks guys for giving me hope in my writing. (I plan on making a living out of my writing ability some day, so for you all to really like it means a lot.) Thanks. :-D

If the beginning of Sierra's memory looks familiar, it's because I mention it in her dream a few chapters ago.

Also, sorry that this chapter is so short, kind of got stuck and I figured I should give you guys _something _since you've been waiting for so long.

000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

The next morning everyone piled up into Valenti's car and drove back to Roswell. Isabel opted to sit in the passenger seat, leaving Sierra, Max, Michael, Kyle, Ava, Liz and Maria to sit in the back. Sierra sat in one of the rows with Michael and Maria while Liz, Max, Kyle and Ava sat in the other. Maria had fallen asleep on Michael's shoulder an hour into the ride while Max and Liz where sleeping together, Liz's shoulder against Max's chest and Max's head resting on her head. Next to them, Sierra noticed, was Kyle, sleeping soundly with his head against the window. Sierra couldn't help smirk at seeing Ava, asleep next to Kyle. When Ava had fallen asleep a little after Maria, the motion of the car made Ava lay against Kyle. Sierra saw Kyle stare at her for a little while before shifting his arm and putting it around her shoulders, letting her lay comfortably against him, her head resting by his chest. Sierra slightly jabbed Michael in the ribs, careful not to jar him so as not to wake Maria in the process. Michael looked at her. Sierra smirked and tilted her head towards Kyle and Ava, giving him a look that said "told ya!" Michael looked over and then back at her. He rolled his eyes and faced forward. Sierra gave a triumphant smile before leaning her head against the window and letting the humming from the motor of the car lull her deep into her thoughts.

"_**I'm sorry." Alex said. He and Sierra were sitting in the woods by the lake their parents used to take them to when they were younger. They were sitting on a blanket. Sierra was staring at the lake, she felt numb. She hadn't spoken in a few days. Alex had taken her to the lake, hoping she'd open up. "I know that's not going to make things better, but I really am sorry." He said. He held her hand. "I just want you to know that I'm going to take care of you." He said. "Me, my mom and dad, Uncle Max and Aunt Liz, all of us, I mean." He said. "You're not alone."**_

"_**Al..." She said softly, her voice hoarse from not speaking. She turned to him. "You're not going to leave me, right?" She asked. Her eyes held sadness and desperation in them. Alex quickly pulled her to him and hugged her closely.**_

"**_No, I'm not going anywhere." He said. Something inside Sierra broke and she began to cry on his shoulder. Alex tightened his hold on her and whispered soft soothing words into her ear. "OK, it's OK. Let it out, let it all out. I'm here, I'm here. I'll always be here." He said. Sierra let his words sink in as she continued to cry. After a while, she pulled away._**

"_**I'm so stupid." She said as she tried to force her self to stop crying. "This is all my fault……" **_

"_**No, no it's not." Alex said softly. **_

"_**Yes it is." Sierra said. "It's my fault." She wiped at her cheeks. "I should've listened to you in the very beginning……I should've stopped it……" She got up to her feet and began pacing frantically. "Then none of this would've happened…….Annie would be alive…….Ava……Kyle……" She stopped and faced a tree. Alex jumped a bit when she started beating at it with her fists. He jumped up to his feet and went to her as her assault on the tree became more crazed. "Damnit!" She screamed. "It's all my fault! It's all my fault!" Alex grabbed her by her shoulders and spun her towards him. He quickly crushed her to him, holding her tightly as she tried to fight out of his embrace.**_

"**_It's not your fault!" Alex told her. "You had no way of knowing things would turn out this way. Besides, who's to say none of this would've happened if you had stayed away from him?" Alex asked. He pulled back, holding her at arms length. "It wasn't your fault." He told her softly, trying his damnest to convince her. He cupped her face gently, wiping away her tears with his thumbs. Sierra looked up at him, her eyes red and shinning with still unshed tears. The two of them just stood there, staring into each other's eyes. Sierra's eyes averted to his lips, and before she knew it, she leaned in and kissed him slowly and deeply. Alex was taken aback slightly, but then realized that he was being kissed by the one girl he had ever wanted, so he pulled her closer and deepened the kiss. After a while, his senses returned and he put his hands on her shoulders and pulled away. "Whoa……whoa…." He said softly. He looked at her. "We shouldn't…….I mean…..You don't want to do this, you're just…." Sierra's eyes darkened. She smacked his hands away._**

"_**Oh, so because I found my parents dead in their bed, it means I'm crazy?"**_

"_**You're not crazy, that's the last thing I'd ever use to describe you." Alex said, giving a nervous chuckle. "You're upset, we all are. You're just searching for contact."**_

"**_God, and I thought your aunt was the one who felt the need to over analyze everything." Sierra sighed. _**

"_**Hey." Alex said, a little defensively. "Forgive me for not wanting to take advantage of you in this state."**_

"_**What state?" Sierra asked, frustrated. **_

"_**Oh, I don't know….the state of sadness, grief, pain, depression, just general not good things. Definite mood killers, ya know?" He said. Sierra looked down. The two were silent for a while and then it started to rain. It started as a slow drizzle but it quickly escalated to full blown pour. Alex sighed. "Maybe I should take you home." He said.**_

"_**Home? I don't have a home." Sierra said. She sat down by the tree she had previously beating on and wrapped her arms around her waist as the rain soaked through her clothes. Alex sighed and wiped some rain off his face. "And you know, it is all my fault." Sierra said. Alex looked at her. She slowly looked up at him. "It was my fault for not picking you."**_

"_**What are you talking about?" Alex asked. "Picking me for what?" Sierra slowly stood up and walked up to him. **_

"**_You're not the only one who slowly developed strong feelings while being in this friendship for so many years." Sierra replied. Alex stared at her with an expression that was somewhere between shock and confusion._**

"**_What? But why didn't you ever say anything?" Alex asked, not believing her._**

"_**The same reason you never said anything to me until after Travis and I were together…..Fear of rejection, fear of ruining a good friendship like ours…And……I don't know, part of me thought it was bad to have feelings for you."**_

"_**How so?" **_

"_**Because all of us were like a family, I thought it'd be like……non-biological incest or something….." Sierra said, letting her voice trail off. "Why did you wait until I was 'attached' before you said something, anyway?" She asked. Alex looked down.**_

"_**Because I thought I was loosing you. I thought maybe…..If I told you how I felt, you'd drop that loser like a hot potato." Sierra stepped closer to him and bent her head. She took his face in her hands and lifted it slightly. **_

"**_I wish I had…..Not just because of what's happened with every one else, but because I should've been with you." She whispered. Alex looked at her and grabbed her around the waist, pulling her close. Sierra lost her balance and fell against him, causing him to fall backwards. He landed on top of the blanket that they had been sitting on before and she on top of him. Sierra lifted herself slightly to look at him. Alex reached up and softly swept a piece of wet hair from her forehead. After that, time seemed to slow down and move like crashing waves. They kissed, they slowly undressed one another, and they slowly made the sweetest purest love Sierra had ever imagined._**

Sierra closed her eyes as she also remembered that was the last contact she ever had with Alex. He had gone off while she slept, and ended up running into Travis. Sierra didn't know what actually transpired, all she knew was when she awoke, he wasn't beside her on the blanket and his boxers were missing. She figured he went off to do his 'business' or something and waited. She waited for over twenty minutes and he still didn't return. She got up, not giving herself time to get dressed; she just grabbed the blanket from the ground and wrapped it around her body. She walked around, calling his name, and then found him, a mile away from where they had lay together, lying by the lake, his eyes staring up at the sky, his throat slashed. Sierra remembered seeing something on his chest. She got closer and saw that there was something carved on his chest. One thing. One letter. "T". Sierra slowly crawled and lay on her side, next to Alex. She just looked at him as she brought her hand up and passed it over his eyes, closing them. Her chin quivered as her sobs broke free. She put her arm across his chest and buried her head her head in his shoulder as she sobbed.


	18. The Portal

Note: Sorry guys! I know, I suck for not updating in like forever. Still love me? Also, the Buddha joke in no way reflects how I feel about the religion, it was just a way for Maria to rag on Kyle.

It was nearing dusk by the time Jim pulled up to the caves. Everyone piled out. Ava stood by the car and stared up at the rocky structure.

"So, this is where yous guys hatched?" Ava asked, casting a glance at Max, Michael and Isabel. Isabel nodded.

"Yeah." She said.

"Lucky." Ava muttered. Max looked at her, remembering seeing the dupe pods in the sewer in New York. He could understand her feeling a little jealous—them being placed in a secure cave, her and the others in a cold damp sewer. It's only natural that they grew up knowing they were less then their doubles. They were the inferior ones. Everyone was torn from their thoughts as Sierra clasped her hands together.

"Everyone ready?" She asked. The others, unsure what was expected of them, simply nodded. They all slowly trekked up the hill, once they were at the top, everyone looked at Sierra expectantly. Sierra chewed on her lip, deep in thought.

"Well?" Kyle asked. Sierra blinked and looked at him.

"Hang on, I'm trying to remember how this went." She said. Kyle's jaw fell open.

"You mean you don't even remember what happened!" He exclaimed. Liz, who was standing next to him, pinched some of the skin on his arm, telling him to shut up. "Oww!" He exclaimed, jumping a bit.

"I remember." Sierra said, giving Kyle an indignant look. "Just, give me a second." She said. She closed her eyes for a second as it slowly came back to her. She opened them and looked at everyone. "All right, you guys," she said, pointing to Liz, Kyle, Michael, Max, Isabel and Ava. "Sit over there in a circle." She said, pointing to the entrance to the cave. Max and Liz sat together. Kyle went to sit beside Liz when Sierra's voice stopped him. "Kyle, since you and Liz don't have fully developed powers yet, you should have one of the full fledged aliens sit between you and her." She said. Ava, who was closest, took the spot next to Liz and Kyle sat beside her. Sierra smirked and cast a look at Michael. Michael rolled his eyes and sat next to Kyle. Isabel was the last to sit as she took the spot between her brother and Michael. "Okay, everyone hold hands. Max had no problem taking Isabel and Liz's hands, neither did Liz with Ava, Ava with Kyle or Isabel with Michael. Sierra noticed that Michael and Kyle weren't holding hands. She frowned. "Is there a problem, boys?" She asked. Kyle turned his head and looked at her.

"How about he and Isabel switch?" Kyle asked.

"Kyle, holding Michael's hand doesn't make you less manly or anything." Maria said. "Although, all that Buddha crap might." She muttered.

"Hey!" Kyle yelled.

"Kyle, will you quit being such an idiot and just hold Michael's hand?" Isabel said, a little annoyed. Kyle groaned and put his hand out for Michael to take.

"You tell anyone about this and-" Kyle began. Michael rolled his eyes and took the guy's hand.

"You think I want this getting around?" He asked.

"All right, if everyone's done with the jokes and complaints," Sierra said, her voice a little hard. "We can continue." She stepped over to the circle and stood behind Michael. "I need all of you guys to close your eyes and breathe in and out."

"What, meditating is going to get you to Antar?" Michael asked. Sierra jabbed the toe of her foot in the small of her back. "Sorry." Michael said. 

"Now, as I was saying." Sierra said. "Eyes closed." She said. She watched as everyone closed their eyes. "Now breathe in through your noses slowly, then breathe out through your mouth even slower." Sierra heard the sound of everyone slowly breathing in and out. "Keep breathing, after a while, it's going to feel like second nature." She instructed. Ten minutes passed of them just sitting there breathing. "All right, now, everyone, imagine a small dot of light. Concentrate on that dot of light. Visualize it. Imagine that dot of light getting bigger and bigger." She said. She left them at that as she walked back over to where Jim and Maria stood. "I need you two to make sure nothing goes wrong." She said. "No matter what, don't let them let go of each other's hands until either I'm back, or-" Jim looked at her, understanding what the "or" was. He reached over and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"There isn't going to be an or." He said. Sierra looked at him and sighed.

"If I'm not back in an hour, you break the circle, got it?" She instructed. "If you see anyone who isn't me trying to come out, you don't even think about hesitating, you break that circle. If-"

"Oh god." Maria breathed out. Sierra looked at her and saw her eyes were trained on the circle. Sierra and Jim looked over and saw a small ring of light in the middle of the circle. Sierra smiled softly.

"Wow, it didn't take as long as I thought it would have." She said. She looked back at Jim and Maria. "Remember what I said." She told them as she began to walk over to the circle.

"Wait." Maria called after her. Sierra stopped and turned back and saw Maria walking over to her. "What was the last if?" She asked. Sierra wasn't sure what she meant but then quickly realized she had been cut off before.

"Using up all this power is probably going to have some physical effects on them, especially Kyle and Liz." Sierra said. "As much as you and Valenti are going to want to run over and help them all and everything, you can't, understand? Even if they start bleeding from their ears or something, you **can not **touch them until it's time to break the circle. If you even tap them, you run the risk of breaking their concentration and then everything's over, okay?" Maria pursed her lips, not particularly liking the idea of seeing her boyfriend and friends in pain. "Maria, do you understand?" Sierra asked.

"Yes." Maria said.

"Good. Now, knowing Valenti, he's probably going to want to go all protective mode the minute they look like they're in any distress, especially with Kyle, I don't care how you have to do it, but you keep him away." Maria nodded. Sierra turned over to the circle and saw the ring getting bigger and bigger.

"Be careful." Maria said softly, taking Sierra's hand in hers and squeezing it gently. Sierra turned back to Maria. She gave a curt nod and a half smile. Maria slowly released her hand as Sierra continued on her way to the circle. She stopped and turned back to Maria.

"Maria." She called to her. Maria went over to her. As soon as she was close enough, Sierra pulled Maria into a tight hug. Maria reciprocated the embrace. Sierra planted her chin on Maria's shoulder. "In case I don't come back," she whispered to Maria. "I want you to know the truth." She said. "You're my mother." She said. Maria couldn't help it as a soft sob escaped her lips as she heard those words. She tightened her hold on Sierra. She wasn't sure if she was crying tears of joy because she now knew the truth and the truth was she was going to have a family with Michael, or if they were tears of sorrow over the fact that her daughter was about to enter in a dangerous situation. Sierra and Maria stayed in the embrace for a bit before the wind picked up around them, signaling the portal was open wide enough. Sierra placed her hands on Maria's shoulders to push out of the hug. Maria was less than willing to let her go.

"Don't, don't go." She pleaded. Sierra was beginning to be blinded by her own tears as she continued to push Maria away. She was finally able to get Maria to let go. Maria placed a hand over her mouth as she tried to hold in her sobs. Sierra took a deep breath.

"I'm doing this to save us, all of us." Sierra assured her. Maria slowly stepped back and rejoined Jim as Sierra walked to the circle. She stood by where Ava and Kyle's hands joined and stopped, taking in a few deep breaths. She slowly lifted her foot up and stepped over their hands, careful not to jar them at all. She slowly brought her other foot in. Once she was inside the circle, she stood up straight, squaring her shoulders and walked through the portal, disappearing in its depths. Maria's knees buckled under her and Jim held her up.

"She'll be back." He assured her, hugging her close to him. "She'll be back."


	19. Running Out Of Time

AN: Hey guys! I'm back. Sorry for the lack of updates. I got distracted by school and other fan fiction projects. Still adore me?

000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

It was like walking through a bolt of lightning. Everything was bright and white around her for a few seconds and then she was there. Sierra blinked as she looked around. She knew right away from the description her father and Max gave when they went through the portal in her time that she was inside the main hall on Antar. It was the sort of palace and base of operations of them. Sierra carefully walked along the corridors, trying to find where the Granolith was stored. Every so often she'd hide around the corner of the corridors if she heard voices. It was the guards and servants to the palace walking about, patrolling the halls or walking from task to task. After walking and dodging out of sight for nearly fifteen minutes she caught sight of the device inside a room. Still being cautious, she looked both ways down the corridor before quickly and quietly making her way into the room. It was empty, except for the large device in the corner. Part of her wondered why there were no guards posted but she then remembered that at that time, the Granolith was pretty much just a useless trinket.

"Well, time to get this over with." She muttered to herself. She held out her hand and concentrated. Slowly, the Granolith sparked and buzzed as it began to fall apart. She smiled as she saw bits and pieces of it fall to the ground. She kept on doing this for a while, making sure the item was truly beyond repair. Once the former erect object was reduced to a smoking pile of ruble, she put down her hand. She walked over to it and lifted her foot, stomping on the pieces for good measure, and venting out the anger that she associated with it. The betrayal, the sadness, everything went into destroying this object. After that, she stepped back, admiring her work. She smirked a bit at her achievement.

000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Back on Earth, the strain of keeping the portal open was beginning to get to the others. Max's face was scrunched in deep concentration, Michael's face was blank but he'd emit an occasional grunt, Isabel and Ava would whimper once in a while, and lastly Kyle and Liz looked like they were about to pass out. Kyle's face was drained of color and Liz's body seemed to sway dizzily.

"We should do something, they don't look good," Jim said, observing them all with concern. Maria shook her head.

"We can't," she said. "Sierra said if we even touch them, the connection might break." She took a deep breath, forcing herself to be strong and keep herself from running and comforting her friends and boyfriend. "We just need to wait."

000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

After Sierra was done destroying the Granolith, she quietly crept out of the room.

"Hey!" Sierra gasped and spun around at the voice and saw a guard standing not too far from her.

"Shit," she cursed to herself.

"Stop right there!" Sierra didn't listen as she turned and ran down the corridor, ducking behind the bends and corners of the hallway. She could hear the guard bellowing his discovery to his comrades. After running for what felt like hours, she finally ducked into a room. She closed the door behind her and slumped against the wall, fighting to catch her breath. Sierra blinked as her heart rate slowed down to normal. She went to open the door to try and make her way to the portal when a sound caught her attention. She turned to see a white bassinette in the middle of the room. She slowly walked over to it and gasped at what she saw.

000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Maria checked her watch. The time Sierra had given them was slowly running out and she hadn't come back yet. Maria was starting to fear that Sierra wouldn't be coming back. _No,_ she thought to herself, _no, she has to come back. _Jim was slowly pacing by the others, keeping good distance from them. His fist became tight at his sides as he saw some blood trickling out of some of their noses from the obvious strain they were under.

"God," he whispered to the wind, "please, get us through this."

000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

In the bassinette lay a baby cooing gently. Sierra peered down at the tiny thing and soon realized who it was. From the eyes, she could tell it was Travis……small, unthreatening Travis. She could feel tears well up in her eyes.

"You," she whispered. Her mind flashed with all the destruction Travis caused in her time. She saw her parents lying dead in each others arms, she saw herself curling next to Alex's dead body. Sierra blinked as the tears dripped and splashed onto her shirt. "This is all your fault," she whispered. "Everything would've been fine, if it wasn't for you." Travis simply stared at her with blank innocent eyes. "I can't let you hurt them," she swore. She stepped back and searched the room. She soon found a small round throw pillow on a cushioned chair at the other side of the room. Automatically, her feet took her to the chair as her hands were shaking as she picked up the pillow. She slowly walked back to the bassinette and looked down at Travis. He was simply sucking on his small fingers, his eyes drooping as he began to fall asleep. "I'm sorry," she said, understanding that this infant had no idea what was about to happen. "But I have to do this." She slowly lowered the pillow.

000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Maria looked at her watch again. _Two minutes……..come on, Sierra._

"Ugh!' Liz groaned, squeezing her eyes shut. Maria looked at her, wringing her hands nervously.

000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Sierra opened the door to the room slowly, careful not to cause it to creek so as not to alert the guards. She carefully left the room and began to briskly walk back to where she had entered through the portal.

"There she is!" The second the sound of one the guards reached her ears, she broke out in a full out sprint. "She's getting away! Stop her!" Sierra kept running, picking up speed. She nearly stumbled when she felt something explode against her back. The guards had brought out their weapons. She gave out a pained shriek through clenched teeth but kept running.

000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

There was a loud woshing sound as something came through the portal. Maria looked up quickly, fearing it was someone other than Sierra.

"Close it! Close it!" Sierra screamed from her spot, curled up on her stomach. Jim and Maria quickly rushed to the circle. Jim pulled Kyle and Michael's hands apart while Maria pulled Liz and Ava apart. The portal snapped shut, disappearing into nothingness. The others fell, lying on the ground. Max blinked and looked at his side.

"Isabel," he whispered gently, concerned for his sister. He pulled himself up and touched her face. He pulled at the bottom of his shirt and wiped the blood from her nose.

"I'm okay," she assured him as they both sat up. Max went to tend to Liz but saw Maria was taking care of her.

"Kyle, Kyle, say something," Jim pleaded, gathering his son in his arms.

"Ugh, I feel like someone just beat me with a fifty pound weight," Kyle groaned. Jim laughed, satisfied that his son was all right. Maria was helping Liz sit up and they both checked on Ava. Michael groaned as he pulled himself up, his eyes falling on Sierra.

"Sierra.." he quickly crawled to her. Michael grabbed her shoulder and turned her onto her back. He nearly fell back from shock when he saw she had a small bundle clutched to her chest, and that bundle was crying.

"Max.." she said weakly, panting. Max went over to her. "Take him…….take your son." Max's eyes widened, as did the others.


End file.
